Washington, D.C.- Today, Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA-03) hailed the budget agreement reached by House and Senate Conferees that includes a provision that will allow for the permanent extension of the sales tax deduction.  The budget resolution was passed by the House today, and is expected to clear the Senate soon as well. 

Congressman Baird has led the fight to change this unfair provision in U.S. tax policy.  On the first day of the 111^th Congress, he introduced legislation that would make the deduction permanent.  The bipartisan bill is pending before the House Ways and Means Committee; it currently has more than 50 cosponsors.  

"The finish line is finally in sight.  By creating space in the budget for a permanent extension of the sales tax deduction, we've cleared a major hurdle," said Congressman Baird.  "This deduction puts hundreds of millions of dollars back in the pockets of Washingtonians each year, money that they would be able to keep if they lived in almost any other state."

Washington is one of seven states that have a state sales tax, but no state income tax.  The others are: Florida, Texas, Nevada, Tennessee, South Dakota and Wyoming.  These states rely on sales tax for their revenues.  As it is currently written, parts of the US tax code discriminate against people who live in these seven states.  In every other state, taxpayers are allowed to deduct what they pay in state income taxes from their federal returns, however residents of these seven states are given no similar relief. 

Last year, Congressman Baird led the effort to pass a temporary extension to the deduction, which will allow taxpayers to utilize it for the 2008 and 2009 tax years.

"We need to stop fixing this problem a year or two at a time; this budget agreement allows us to fix this problem once and for all. I look forward to working with the more than 50 other Members of Congress who have cosponsored my bill to ensure that it happens," added Congressman Baird. "It's simply unfair that a person in Vancouver would pay more in federal income tax than a person who makes the same amount of money each year, but lives across the river in Portland."

In addition to the sales tax deduction, the budget resolution also makes major investments towards energy independence, reforming our broken healthcare system, and creating programs that will help make college and career and technical education affordable to every citizen.

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