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Northeast lawmakers push Sandy tax bill
Democratic and Republican congressmen from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on Thursday unveiled a proposal to provide a bevy of tax breaks to individuals and businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy.
It remains unclear if the bill has any chance of passing in the current lame-duck session.
Led by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), the six Democrats and seven Republicans are hoping to pass the tax bill in conjunction with a $60.4 billion spending bill to pay for the damage due to Sandy.
The Senate is moving forward with that bill as House Republicans weigh their options including whether to demand spending cuts to offset the disaster bill.
Pascrell told reporters that the tax bill will be introduced in the House on Monday or Tuesday, and there is not yet a cost-estimate.
Modeled on measures taken in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf region in 2005, it would lower a range of tax burdens for Sandy victims. These include allowing victims to borrow from their retirement accounts to rebuild without taking a tax penalty and lifting a cap on the size of losses that can be deducted from individual income taxes owed.
The bill would also ensure that workers would still receive child and earned income tax credits even if they lost qualifying income due to Sandy-related job loss, and set up Sandy Recovery Bonds.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) have not made their positions known.
“These are commonsense solutions for things that fall through the cracks,” said Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), from hard-hit Staten Island.
He urged his leadership to allow the Sandy supplemental to come straight from the Senate to the House floor.
“I feel very confident it will pass the House without incident,” he said.
Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) said fighting over how to pay for the damage should be saved for another time and not come on the heels of the hurricane.
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