Sales Taxes Deductible

The

catch:

While primarily aimed at corporations,the new tax law recently signedby President Bush gives individuals atax break by restoring the federalincome tax deduction for state andlocal sales taxes, which had been off limitas write-offs since 1986. Taxpayers can write off salestaxes or state income taxes, but notboth. That means the primary beneficiaries of the new rules will be residentsof states that have sales taxes but noincome tax, a list that includes Florida,Texas, and Wyoming. Some tax expertsalso note that taxpayers in low incometax but high sales tax states could alsobenefit if they make several big-ticketpurchases during the year. Residents ofAlaska and New Hampshire, whichdon't have sales or income taxes, won'tbenefit at all.