Another April 15 has come and gone, which means this year’s dreaded Tax Week is now in our collective rear-view mirror. As residents of New York State, we’ve been forced to endure absurdly high taxes, spiking energy bills and crushing cost-of-living increases for years resulting from the excessive spending in Albany.
While Gov. Kathy Hochul tries to blame that — and everything else — on President Donald Trump, the true facts here are indisputable. The blame for New York being an unaffordable mess rests squarely on the Democratic politicians who overwhelmingly control state government.
But instead of just complaining about it — I took decisive action.
We delivered on SALT and other tax cuts
In Washington, I challenged members of both parties – and even the president – to deliver a significant tax cut this year that eases the burden on Hudson Valley families, seniors, small businesses and workers. In particular, I made a promise during my first campaign to raise the cap on state and local tax deductions — SALT — and I delivered on that promise.
The result? In recent weeks, news outlets on the right (“Blue-State Residents Are Reaping Big Refunds From Trump Tax Law’s SALT Cap,” Wall Street Journal, March 28) and the left (Bloomberg News, “SALT Cap Boost in Trump Tax Bill Supersizes New Yorkers’ Refunds,” Feb. 13, 2026) have highlighted how the historic tax law passed by House Republicans is delivering significant tax relief to blue state residents, including in New York.
The reason is simple: A coalition of common sense, pragmatic Republicans like me fought leadership in both parties to quadruple the SALT deduction, raising the cap to $40,000 for taxpayers earning less than $500,000 a year. The income cap also guaranteed that this was no giveaway to the uber-wealthy. On the contrary, the savings are squarely benefitting middle-income earners.
As a result, my constituents are averaging a tax cut of over 3,000 this year, with many seeing double and triple that amount. In fact, 90% of Hudson Valley residents can now fully deduct their state and local taxes.Don’t believe me? Visit my website at https://www.lawlerforcongress.com/taxrelief/, plug-in your own numbers to the independent, non-partisan Tax Foundation tax calculator and see for yourself.
In addition to quadrupling the SALT cap, the new tax law will also:
Let’s reopen Indian Point to lower electricity costs
These taxpayer-friendly policies are leading to sizable tax refunds and — even better — less of your hard-earned money going to the government in the first place. Better yet, I don’t plan to stop at just lowering your taxes. Next, I will tackle the energy crisis and the rising cost of electricity.
To that end, I recently announced my support for responsibly reopening Indian Point Energy Center. Predictably, my opponents and Hochul attacked me for it, but the reality is that the decision to shut the plant down in the first place was a mistake. It’s what happens when policy is driven by extreme, far-left ideology, not science.
Residents across the Hudson Valley are suffocating under rising energy prices thanks to the unaffordable and unrealistic electrification mandates put in place by Hochul and Albany politicians. Moreover, the connection between higher costs and the closure of Indian Point cannot be disputed. Since its closure was announced, New York has seen a nation-leading 58% increase in electricity costs. To make matters worse, these unconscionable increases hit lower income families and those on a fixed income harder than anyone.
As for the predictable accusations from Hochul and others that I am somehow anti-environment for wanting to expand natural gas and nuclear — nonsense. Look no further than our neighbor, Pennsylvania, where electricity costs are 40% lower than New York’s because their Democratic governor has steadfastly supported an aggressive all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes natural gas pipeline construction. While in Michigan, their Democratic governor is on the verge of making her state the first in the country to open a previously shuttered nuclear plant, and is working to return energy diversity to the state — resulting in her residents paying 45% less than we do for energy.
Folks, Democrats and Republicans in other states are working together to lower costs and get things done. I am doing the same in Congress. Maybe New York Democrats will give it a try.
Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican, represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, which includes all of Rockland and Putnam counties and parts of Westchester and Dutchess counties.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: We promised tax relief for New York — and delivered | Opinion
Reporting by Mike Lawler, Special to the USA TODAY Network / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
