Congressman MacArthur: 'This Tax Bill Is Good For New Jersey Families'

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- "I wish we had lower property taxes in the state, if we did it would be even better, but its still a good bill for NJ Families" Congressman Tom MacArthur ( NJ 3rd District) told The Rich Zeoli Show on 1210AM WPHT about the Tax Reform bill expected by the end of the week.

When asked if the SALT (state and local tax) deductions had been decided on, MacArthur said "the House version initially didn't include any deductions for state and local taxes. I went to bat and voted no until they included the 10,000 dollar agreement, which covers the vast majority of people in NJ. I'm optimistic we will get them all done."

He responded to criticism from his colleague Congressman Leonard Lance (NJ 7th District) who says the 10,000 dollar cap is too low.

MacArthur says, "If I could have gotten more I would have, most states only need  2,000 dollars for property taxes so this was a significant accommodation."

He continued, "In my own district, of the 151,000 people who took that deduction last year only 3,000 of them were in excess of the 10,000 dollars and 81 percent of them weren't keeping the deduction anyway. You have to look at all the pieces before you decide the bill is good or bad because of one issue."