Trump’s Advisers Want to Cut SALT Write-Off Limit to Below $10,000

Former US President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Schnecksville Fire Hall in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, US, on Saturday, April 13, 2024. Trump on Friday offered support for embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson who is fighting to keep his job under pressure from ultraconservative lawmakers, seeking to tamp down on divisions in the Republican caucus.

(Bloomberg) — Economists advising Donald Trump are pushing to keep a cap on the state and local tax deduction, limiting a valuable tax break for many residents of New York, New Jersey and California.

Economists Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer, who are regularly meeting with Trump to pitch him on economic policy ideas, said they are staunchly opposed to any increase to the $10,000 write-off cap on state and local taxes, or SALT. That limit was imposed in Trump’s 2017 tax law and will expire at the end of 2025, along with other key portions of the law.

“It makes no sense to subsidize New York state’s high tax rates,” economist Laffer said in an interview Wednesday. “I’m against any type of state and local deductions on the federal level.”

“That benefits just very, very rich people in very blue states,” Moore said earlier this week. “I would even get rid of the up to $10,000.”

The $10,000 cap was felt most acutely in high-tax states, including New York and New Jersey. Democrats are more inclined than Republicans to advocate for raising the limit on the deduction, but a handful of key House GOP lawmakers representing the New York City suburbs and Southern California — districts that will likely determine who controls the House next year — also support expanding the tax break.

Former US President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Schnecksville Fire Hall in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, US, on Saturday, April 13, 2024. Trump on Friday offered support for embattled House Speaker Mike Johnson who is fighting to keep his job under pressure from ultraconservative lawmakers, seeking to tamp down on divisions in the Republican caucus.

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