Long Island Named Worst Place To Buy Home If GOP Tax Plan Passes

If the proposed Republican tax plan passes (which seems likely), Long Islanders are going to be especially hard-hit by a provision that will severely cut the amount of state and local taxes that homeowners can deduct.

The info comes from a new report released by the real estate company Trulia. Based on that, Business Insider named Long Island the worst place in the country to buy a home if the tax plan passes.

The proposed tax bill would cap the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT, at $10,000. The deduction includes property taxes as well as state and local taxes. This would hit Long Island particularly hard. According to Trulia's research, 46.5 percent of Long Island homeowners pay more than $10,000 in property taxes each year — that's the highest percentage of any major metropolitan area that Trulia studied, beating out even New York City.

The tax plan would also lower the home price cap for the mortgage interest deduction from $1 million to $750,000. As icing on the cake, Trulia's research showed that Long Islanders have the highest median tax bill of any major metro area at $9,677 (second place was Newark at $8,391).

This means that if the tax bill passes, it could significantly cool the Long Island real estate market. The home price increases that have been happening the last few years could slow, as could home sales and new construction.

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