Americans rush to pay property taxes

CHERRY HILL, New Jersey — In a season of sales, homeowners in affluent towns across the U.S. are rushing to take advantage of a deal that they hope will save them big. On taxes.

Tax collectors in many communities are seeing a surge in property-tax prepayments before 2018 in an effort to cash in — for one last year — on a deduction that the tax overhaul signed into law Friday by U.S. President Donald Trump will limit.

The tax office at the Cherry Hill Township building in New Jersey saw a steady stream of property owners on Friday.

Accountant Ron Brand was there with $15,000 US to pay a full year’s worth of 2018 property taxes.

“I’m hoping to get a 22 per cent return on my money,” he said, calculating that every dollar he could deduct from his income this year would mean 22 cents less in federal taxes.

Since a national income tax began more than 100 years ago, Americans have been allowed to deduct from their income the amount they’ve paid for state and local taxes.

But under the new tax law, there’s a $10,000 cap on the deductions.

That’s going to hit hard in states such as California, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey — states where the average state and local deductions in 2015 all topped $17,000. In New Jersey, the average property tax bill alone was nearly $8,300 last year.

In New York, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an order Friday allowing New Yorkers to pre-pay their 2018 taxes to local governments and schools by Jan. 1 and claim the deduction.