New York to propose restructuring own tax code: governor

NEW YORK, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday that the state was considering restructuring its own tax code in response to the newly passed federal tax overhaul, which he said was partisan and divisive.

The U.S. Congress passed the largest overhaul to the country's tax code in three decades last week along the party line, with no Democrats voting for it.

While the bill would cut the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from the current 35 percent, and lower individual income rates, it also put a cap on a deduction for state and local taxes.

Critics of the tax bill like Cuomo said it was bait and switch. The bill appeared to benefit the middle class but it wound up being a benefit for the rich and rich corporations.

"They hope the rich corporations will then give it to the workers as a matter of their largesse but if they actually wanted to raise wages for workers, they would have said in the bill, the corporations are going to get a tax cut but they must give it to the workers," said Cuomo in an interview with CNN.

He pointed out that the tax provision hits the blue states by eliminating the state and local tax deductibility and uses that money to finance the tax cut in the red states.

"This is the most partisan, divisive legislation we've seen," said Cuomo.

He told the media that the state is going to propose a restructuring of its own tax code. He added that he was not sure "what they did is legal or constitutional and that's something we're looking at now."

"You can change the tax code. You can't penalize my state because of its political affiliation. There's never been a double taxation before in the history of the nation," said Cuomo.

He suggested a legal battle might prove difficult but people who are hurt by the tax bill are not going to forget.

Cuomo signed an Executive Order last week allowing residents in New York to prepay their property taxes before the end of the year. Enditem