House Republicans are not aligned on how to address the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s cap on state and local tax deductions in the budget reconciliation bill, the taxwriting committee nonetheless advanced its tax title with a placeholder policy to be negotiated in the full chamber.
Just after 8 a.m. EDT Wednesday, the House Ways and Means Committee voted 26-19 along party lines following a 17-hour mark-up on the GOP’s “One, Big, Beautiful” tax bill that started Tuesday afternoon and became an overnight affair. Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) released the full text of the tax proposals on Monday as an amendment to the partial text made available Friday.
The bill as approved by Ways and Means totals nearly 400 pages in length and comes with a $3.8 trillion price tag, just under the $4 trillion allotted for net tax expenditures in the budget framework passed by the House.
But while every Republican on Ways and Means voted in favor of the bill in its entirety, members of the so-called SALT caucus have openly opposed the proposal to raise the SALT deduction cap — currently $10,000 — to $30,000 with an income threshold of $400,000.
“This limitation amount is reduced by 20 percent of the excess of the taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income over $400,000 ($200,000 in the case of a married individual filing separately),” the Joint Committee on Taxation explained. “However, the limitation amount may not be reduced below $10,000 ($5,000 in the case of a married individual filing separately).”
Some Republicans, especially those representing districts in blue states, are not satisfied with these levels and want them increased.
Representatives Nick LaLota (R-NY), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Mike Lawler (R-NY), and Young Kim (R-CA) issued a joint statement May 8 expressing frustration with Smith and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for including the proposal in the bill ahead of the markup despite their “good faith negotiations” for a higher cap.
The $30,000 SALT cap is “an amount they already knew would fall short of earning our support,” the statement continued. “It’s not just insulting — it risks derailing President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Representative Tom Suozzi (D-NY) offered an amendment during the Ways and Means markup that would have increased the SALT cap to $80,000, or $40,000 for those married filing separately. The committee voted against the amendment by a vote of 25-17.
Republicans have indicated so far this week SALT is a dealbreaker that could cost Johnson key votes the party cannot afford to lose with the slim House margin.
“As I have said repeatedly, I will not support any bill that does not adequately lift the cap on SALT,” said Lawler. “This bill, as written, fails to deliver and will not have my support. I look forward to continuing to negotiate with leadership and the administration to provide real tax relief for my constituents.”
LaLota posted on social media site X there is “[p]lenty of room for a SALT fix.” LaLota poked fun at Ways and Means telling the SALT caucus to “just trust” their math. He also shared a graphic that said: “No SALT. No Deal. For Real.”
Representative Tom Kean (R-NJ) in a statement said he will “not support a tax package” with a $30,000 cap, which is “not acceptable” for his constituents. But the proposal does have the approval of Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), whose office said in a release that the tripled cap will reach 98% of her district.
At a webinar hosted by EY Wednesday afternoon, the firm’s Center for Tax Policy noted that the SALT deduction cap is set to fully expire at the end of the year and that Republican in-fighting on the limit could threaten Johnson’s goal of the House passing the bill by Memorial Day.
EY Principal Ryan Abraham said that the $30,000 cap is marked as a $900 billion revenue raiser because it would otherwise sunset completely. “But that’s a big open question,” said Abraham. As SALT could impact the cost of the bill if the cap were raised up from $30,000, “that $3.8 trillion number right now may very well change before the bill gets out of the House.”
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