Gillibrand: Broaden property tax deduction

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Sunday touted her legislation to allow homeowners who don't file itemized tax returns to deduct local property taxes.

Gillibrand's office said federal estimates suggest about 130,000 Long Island homeowners will pay $270 million more in federal income taxes than they should because they won't deduct property taxes, a figure the senator said "seems really low" and local experts said is likely far too high.

The estimate, which the New York Democrat attributed to the Internal Revenue Service, is "almost to the point where I don't think it's true." She said her office did not have data to back the estimate.

"There's a lot of people who live on Long Island and a lot of middle-class families," she said. "The generalization is people who earn less than $100,000 don't itemize."

The median annual property tax bill is $8,940 in Nassau and $7,361 in Suffolk, according to a Tax Foundation study released in September. The standard deduction for federal income taxes is $5,700 for a single person and $11,400 for a married couple filing jointly.

Holbrook accountant Thomas Brown said he doesn't have any tax clients who do not itemize their deductions. He acknowledged, though, that people who take the standard deduction are not likely to use a tax professional.

"We live in an area that has high real-estate values and high taxes," Brown said. Gillibrand's proposal, he said, "can't hurt anybody, but I don't see it as being a huge windfall for most of the Island. . . . It's really not worth that much to a lot of people. Politically, it probably looks pretty good. But I don't see it as helping the masses."

Lawrence Levy, executive director of the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University, also said Gillibrand's proposal is not likely to help many people here.

Should her bill become law, a line would be added to the federal tax form under the standard deduction for a homeowner to list the amount of local property taxes paid, Gillibrand spokesman Glen Caplin said.Gillibrand's office was unable to say what the total hit to the federal treasury would be.