By Matt Joy, Princeton Mortgage Wholesale
Do you know what the mortgage industry really needs? More acronyms… I’m kidding of course, but there is a new acronym that we’re going to need to know… SALT (State and Local Tax). The new acronym is connected to the Tax Cut’s and Jobs Act and its elimination of certain SALT deductions. Obviously, this has created quite a stir and rather than get into the politics behind it (each of the states in question are blue states, they think there is a conspiracy against them… blah, blah, blah… you know, old fashioned political stuff) I’ll just leave you with the facts.
As we all know by now, the newest tax law placed a $10,000 cap on SALT deductions and while some states didn’t mind, others (NY, NJ & CT) are up in arms about it… and rightfully so. CNBC posted an article that stated in 2015, the average NY resident’s SALT deductions were $22,000 while NJ and CT residents saw around $20,000 in deductions. Wow. I’m not good at math, but the residents of the most populous tri-state area are missing out on more than half of their previously deductible taxes. Thus, the Governors of these illustrious states have banded together to sue the federal government… good luck? Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of New York, is leading the charge and believes the new tax law is using his state as a “piggy bank” and “preempts the states’ ability to govern by reducing the ability to provide for their own citizens…”. Yikes. This lawsuit is going to be fun to watch and I wonder if more states won’t join the fight.
Staying in the northeast, let’s talk about New York’s awkward cousin (you know… the one you only hang out with around the holidays… the one your mom forces you to bring around your friends) Vermont. Yep, a state known for it’s cheddar, Ben & Jerry and of course our 21st (Chester A. Arthur) & 30th (Calvin Coolidge) Presidents of these United States… is implementing blockchain technology into its real estate conveyance recording process. The city of South Burlington has partnered with the CA based blockchain start up, Propy, to provide the ledger technology to it’s recording processes. All joking aside, South Burlington is the first city to step up to the plate and implement blockchain into a real estate transaction. This partnership is just a pilot program, but if everything works to plan, the technology that powers the famous (or maybe now infamous) Bitcoin could find it’s way into more states and more cities very quickly.
Photo by Ryan Loughlin on Unsplash
The opinions expressed in this post are the sole view of the writer and do not reflect the opinion of Princeton Mortgage Corporation.
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