Marc Goldwein: There’s a baffling tax gift to the wealthy in the Democrats' social-spending bill
Marc Goldwein is senior vice president and senior policy director of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. He recently wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post, an excerpt of which is below.
The White House describes the Build Back Better Act as a way to strengthen “the backbone of the country — the middle class.” Why, then, does the current version of the bill include a massive tax cut for the rich?
The bill devotes nearly $300 billion to increasing the cap on the state and local tax deduction — known as the SALT deduction — from $10,000 to $80,000 through the end of 2025. It goes without saying that if you are paying tens of thousands of dollars in state and local taxes, you probably aren’t middle class. (And people with just over $10,000 of state and local taxes probably are collecting the $25,100 standard deduction rather than itemizing.) Based on a Tax Foundation analysis of a similar plan, roughly 98 percent of this tax cut would go to households making six figures or more.
Read the entire piece here.
Published works by members or staff of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget do not necessarily reflect the views of all members or staff of the Committee.
Read more options and analyses on our SALT Deduction Resources page.
