Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York campaigned here last week against President Reagan’s proposal to end the deductibility of state and local taxes, saying the plan could seriously harm the middle class and undermine state efforts to provide crucial services such as education.
Governor Cuomo, who spoke at a press conference sponsored by the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition, has been a leading opponent of the move and a key ally of education groups lobbying against it.
President Reagan, in a speech in Tampa, Fla., last week, called Governor Cuomo’s claims “balderdash.”
The Administration’s proposal to eliminate the federal tax deduction for state and local taxes, a principal component of the President’s tax-reform package, would raise about $34 billion in revenue by fiscal 1988, the Administration says.
Both Governor Cuomo, a Democrat, and the bipartisan Congressional group he addressed last week are opposed to any compromise on Mr. Reagan’s proposal. He said the original proposal or any compromise “distorts the federalist concept” and pits “high-tax” states against states that can tax natural resources such as oil and gas.
He derided Mr. Reagan’s proposal to keep a foreign tax credit--allowing Americans a credit for taxes paid to foreign governments--while eliminating the deduction for taxes paid to the states and localities.
