House Lawmakers Call for Renewal of Sales Tax Deduction

As the committee considers the various expired and soon-to-expire tax provisions, we encourage you to include an extension of the State and local sales tax deduction in any tax extenders package. Extending the sales tax deduction is critical to ensuring equal tax treatment for residents of states that do not assess an income tax.

As you know, the sales tax deduction expired January 1, 2012. If the deduction is not extended, millions of taxpayers living in states without an income tax will shoulder a larger share of the federal tax burden since they cannot claim the deduction for state income taxes. The sales tax deduction saves taxpayers in our states millions of dollars per year and is a vital component of our states' economies, spurring growth and creating jobs.

Millions of middle-class families in Texas, Washington, Nevada, Florida, Tennessee, South Dakota, Wyoming and Alaska will face higher taxes if Congress does not act to extend the sales tax deduction. The deduction was enacted in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 and has since enjoyed strong bipartisan support. Over the past six years, it has been extended three times by bipartisan Congresses and has not once been allowed to lapse.

In recent months the sales tax deduction has continued to receive bipartisan support. In April, Chairman Tiberi and Ranking Member Neal held a hearing on expiring tax provisions, during which a bipartisan group of members testified to extend the deduction and faced no opposition.

We urge you and members of the Committee to maintain fairness and certainty in the tax code by extending the sales tax deduction. Thank you for your consideration of this request and for your continued support of this issue.