Eliminate the SALT deduction: Not a State Right; Funds Sanctuaries.

Congress does not have the taxing power to provide for the welfare of individual states. That power is reserved to each state or to the people as an unenumerated constitutional power under the Tenth Amendment; and, the Federal government is estopped from invading that state power because it has no enumerated power to do so.

Moreover, Congress is expressly obligated to provide for the general welfare of the United States, not individual states. (U.S. Const., art. I, sec. 8, cl. 1; U.S. Const., art. VI, cl. 2; United States v. Butler (1936) 297 U.S. 1, 64, et seq.; Helvering v. Davis (1937) 301 U.S. 619, 640 et seq.) Note that there are no constitutional “carve outs” for states, e.g., New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois. The consequences of a state’s fiscal management rest squarely upon its people, not the Federal government.

By definition, the State and Local Tax (“SALT”) Deduction does not provide for the general welfare of the United States. Quite frankly, the Deduction enables states to act against the general welfare because it helps to support sanctuaries that violate Federal Law and facilitates such atrocities as the killing of Kate Steinle in San Francisco.

In good conscience, it is time to eliminate the SALT Deduction. Each state must learn to stand on its own.

Respectfully submitted on December 7, 2017.

John Lucas
45858 Highway 58
Buttonwillow, CA 93206