June 27, 2018

Wyden: New tax report shows Trump tax scam hurts Oregon homeowners

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden today said a Senate Finance Committee Democratic staff report detailing widespread financial damage to Oregon homeowners from Donald Trump’s tax scheme shows the “deeply troubling” results of the tax changes signed into law by Trump late last year.

The report estimates about 190,000 Oregon homeowners with combined state and local property and income taxes exceeding $10,000 would be unable to deduct their full state and local taxes including their property taxes, had Trump’s tax law been in place in 2015, based on 2015 tax data. About 134,000 of those 190,000 homeowners had annual incomes of less than $200,000.

Because the $10,000 cap on state and local property and income taxes is not indexed for inflation, the number of Oregon taxpayers who won’t be able to fully deduct their state and local taxes will increase over time.

And the report also notes changes in Trump’s new tax law means none of Oregon’s estimated 949,000 homeowners can deduct interest on their home equity loans if they use those resources to pay for living expenses, medical emergencies and college tuition. This sudden change will immediately hurt nearly 137,000 Oregon homeowners who now have home equity loans.

These estimates are supported by data from the Oregon Department of Revenue and the U.S. Census Bureau.

“Add all these deeply troubling impacts in Oregon to the lengthening list of inequities spilling out from Trump’s tax law,” said Wyden, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. “The sad conclusion is that multinational corporations and special interests are being showered with tax breaks at the expense of Oregon families.”