Hoboken Mayor-Elect: Tax Plan Is an Assault From Red States
New Jersey’s first Sikh mayor is preparing to take office on New Year’s Day and is already voicing his opinions about the new Republican tax law.
Ravinder Bhalla, Mayor-Elect of Hoboken, says that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is an assault from red states to blue states, on a national level. He claims that, at a local level, the attack is aimed at the residents of New Jersey. The state has a high tax rate, and the new plan limits deductions taxpayers can receive on state and local taxes up to $10,000. In the past, taxpayers did not have a capped limit.
“That’s going to have a huge economic impact on New Jersey, New York, California, and other states,” Bhalla said. “I am making sure I will do everything I can as mayor, to protect Hoboken residents where policies from Washington impact us, whether it's economic or otherwise,” he said.
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act goes into effect in the new year, but elected officials have already begun to take action. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently passed an “emergency executive action” plan that allows property owners to pay taxes ahead of the new legislation.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/hobokens-first-sikh-mayor-to-be-inaugurated).
Former President Donald Trump answered questions for nearly seven hours Thursday during his second deposition in a legal battle with New York's attorney general over his company's business practices, reversing an earlier decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and remain silent.
Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed into law a bill approved by the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
A federal appeals court has ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone can still be used for now but reduced the period of pregnancy when the drug can be taken and said it could not be dispensed by mail.
The second of two Black Democrats expelled from the Republican-led Tennessee House will return to the Legislature after a Memphis commission voted to reinstate him Wednesday.
Some abortion clinics are fielding lots of calls from patients since a court ruling last Friday threatened the availability of a main drug used in medication abortion, mifepristone.
The Biden administration released an environmental analysis Tuesday that outlined two ways that seven Western states and tribes reliant on the over-tapped Colorado River could cut their use, but declined to publicly take a side on the best option.