Congressional Democrats are continuing their work to hold President Donald Trump accountable for his belligerence. Now, they have successfully passed legislation that, if enacted, would eventually completely eliminate the cap on so-called state and local tax, or SALT, deductions when paying federal income taxes. Those deductions keep the taxpayer from paying taxes twice on the same crop of income, but in order to at least make a show of trying to pay for provisions like a dramatic decrease in corporate tax rates, the Trump tax law included an across-the-board limit on those deductions of $10,000. Democratic-led areas argued that the cap was specifically targeting their citizens through amplifying the effect of high state taxes.
Although Senate Republicans have indicated that they don’t intend to take up the proposed SALT deduction, the newly passed legislation would raise the SALT deduction cap to $20,000 for federal income taxes paid for 2019 and largely eliminate it entirely in the following couple of years.
California Democratic Congresswoman Linda Sánchez commented on Twitter:
‘Families did not deserve to take a hit on their SALT deduction just so the extremely wealthy could pass on the first $11 million dollars of their estates tax-free. I voted to #PassTheSALT, lifting the SALT deduction cap for families in #CA38 & around the country.’
Families did not deserve to take a hit on their SALT deduction just so the extremely wealthy could pass on the first $11 million dollars of their estates tax-free.
I voted to #PassTheSALT, lifting the SALT deduction cap for families in #CA38 & around the country.
— Linda T. Sánchez (@RepLindaSanchez) December 19, 2019
To pay for the deduction lift, the legislation includes a spike in the highest individual income tax rate to its pre-Trump tax law level. House Ways and Means Committee’s tax-policy subcommittee’s Chairman Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) said that the new legislation, which has been in the works for months, protects “the longstanding tax precedent that protects state and local governments’ ability to raise revenue to fund… services.”
Opposition to the deduction includes the claims that it’s mostly a boon for the wealthy who would be paying a lot of taxes in the first place — although Republicans clearly pick and choose when they’re concerned about an issue like that, since the 2017 Trump tax law included that dramatic cut for corporations. Republicans got the mostly Democratic contingent that approved the legislation to include added benefits for teachers and first responders, like an increased deduction opportunity for teachers covering their supplies. Only five Republicans voted in favor of the deduction lift, including Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Peter King (N.Y.), John Katko (N.Y.), Tom Reed (N.Y.), and Chris Smith (N.J.). Just over a dozen Democrats, including prominent progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, voted against the boost.
The vote happened just one day after the almost entirely party-line vote to impeach Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Although the president has claimed that Democrats are “do nothing,” they have passed hundreds of bills that have met a fate of Republican ignorance like that slated for the SALT deduction cap lift.
As freshman Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) put it:
‘I think it should be pretty clear by now that the only House of Congress that has been holding the president accountable happens to also be the only House of Congress that’s passing legislation.’
Republicans in the Senate are even refusing to engage fairly with the impeachment case and call witnesses and summon evidence for the trial.
