Policymakers Should Reject Efforts to Weaken SALT Cap

For Immediate Release

The Senate is voting this afternoon to reopen state workarounds on the limits on the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction by disapproving of IRS regulations that prevent relabeling state tax payments as charitable contributions to make them fully deductible. This step would significantly weaken the cap on the SALT deduction. Previously, we’ve found that fully repealing the cap would cost at least $500 billion over ten years, with over half of the benefit flowing to households making over $1 million per year. 

The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:

Voting to weaken the SALT deduction cap will expand the deficit, provide unneeded tax cuts to the richest Americans, and open the door for widespread abuse of federal tax law.

At a time when many are rightly concerned about rising inequality, declining tax compliance, and the return of trillion-dollar deficits, this vote would worsen all three issues.

Instead of voting to make the 2017 tax cuts even more expensive, both parties should be coming together to improve the bill and undo the unnecessary and unaffordable revenue losses from the bill.

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For more information, please contact Patrick Newton, press secretary, at newton@crfb.org.