美国国家公共电台 NPR GOP Tax Law Sparks Confusion And Outcry In Blue States As N.Y. Threatens Lawsuit

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Just before the new year, many people in high-tax states scrambled¹ to prepay their state and local taxes. The idea was to pay what they owe for the upcoming year ahead of the new tax law that limits the amount that they could deduct². Local governments were overwhelmed. And as NPR's Chris Arnold reports, there's still confusion.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE³: The week after Christmas is usually a short and slow one for town officials in New Paltz, N.Y., but not this time. Daniel Torres is the deputy town supervisor⁴.

DANIEL TORRES: When we opened town hall on Wednesday, we had almost a hundred voicemails from people inquiring about how they could prepay their taxes.

ARNOLD: And the phone kept ringing. People were showing up. Torres says the town clerk's office only has a few people working in it.

TORRES: The clerk's office was so overrun, after a certain while, we couldn't even pick up the phones anymore.

ARNOLD: And there was a lot of confusion. The governor had said that people could prepay their taxes, but the IRS issued a statement saying that would only work if your taxes had already been assessed. Torres says, in New Paltz, the assessments⁶ had been done, but they were still at the printing facility in another town, and they hadn't been mailed out. So he and another town official scrambled over to the printing company.

TORRES: It was 14 boxes that we threw in the back of a town car. It's actually an old police car, to be honest. And, you know, we drove them down. And by the time we did them, there was already hundreds of phone calls that had come in inquiring about it.

ARNOLD: The reason that people want to prepay so badly is that it will save them money on next year's taxes. The tax act caps deductions⁷ for state and local taxes at $10,000. In states with higher tax rates like New Jersey⁸, California and New York, even many middle-class and upper-middle-class people pay more than that $10,000. And those states also happen to vote more often for Democrats⁹. This week in his State of the State address, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the Republican-designed tax act is robbing blue states to pay for tax cuts for red states and corporations.

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ANDREW CUOMO: It is crass¹⁰. It is ugly. It is divisive. It is partisan¹¹ legislating¹². It is an economic civil war. And make no mistake. They are aiming to hurt us.

ARNOLD: Cuomo vowed¹³ to sue the federal government, calling the tax act unconstitutional. Republicans, though, say it's not their tax act that's hurting people. It's that state and local taxes are too high in states like New York, New Jersey and California. Meanwhile, many people who tried to prepay their taxes aren't sure if the IRS will recognize the move. Amanda Carew lives in Bloomingdale, Ill. Her husband, who works on a grounds crew at a federal laboratory, went down to the assessor's office last week to prepay their property taxes.

AMANDA CAREW: He bundled up my son. They drove down there. They got there. And there was about 700 people in line.

ARNOLD: But Carew says since the town only had a preliminary tax assessment⁵, she's not sure whether the IRS will be OK with them prepaying. The family actually just moved into a smaller house to live in a town with a better school district. They're paying more taxes there. But because they can't deduct all of them, Carew estimates that she and her husband will be paying about $750 more in taxes under the new rules.

CAREW: And knowing that we're going to be punished, to an extent, for picking a good school district - it feels incredibly unfair.

ARNOLD: Just how many Americans end up thinking the tax bill is unfair will undoubtedly¹⁴ play a big role in the midterm elections. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR'S "THE VOICELESS")