SALT deduction cap talks with Trump 'positive,' lawmakers say

Nacha Cattan and Billy House, Bloomberg News on Jan 11, 2025

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House Republicans from New York, California and New Jersey unhappy with a cap on state and local tax deductions cast talks on the issue with Donald Trump Saturday night as “positive” but described no firm commitments from the president-elect.

“He really communicated that he feels for how unaffordable the taxes are for our constituents,” Rep. Nick LaLota of New York said in an interview. Trump “is willing to engage in a solution.”

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, another New Yorker who attended the gathering of about 16 House Republicans with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, posted on X that the meeting was “productive.”

Trump aides didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting.

The main focus of the face-to-face meeting was the $10,000 cap on the so-called SALT deduction that was a signature feature of Trump’s 2017 tax cut bill, set to expire for tax years after 2025. The group wants to see the cap raised, or even eliminated, softening the burden on constituents who live in states like New York and California where the combination of high tax rates and expensive property values make a write-off especially valuable.

Another Republican at the meeting, Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, wants to raise the cap to $100,000 for individuals and $200,000 for married couples. The current cap is the same for single and married taxpayers.

Trump’s economic advisers have discussed expanding the cap to $20,000. They’ve been against making the deduction unlimited since a new tax package would contain cuts that need to be offset.

Still, lifting the cap is unpopular among some conservative Republicans from lower-tax states and non-partisan analysts, who say it benefits mostly high-income households in largely Democratic states.

Significant expansion of the SALT deduction cap is already emerging as a potential demand by some Republicans, including Lawler, in return for their support of any larger tax-related package.

The new House GOP majority is razor thin, meaning Speaker Mike Johnson can only absorb a few GOP-vote holdouts or defections to pass any party-line legislation.

(Akayla Gardner contributed to this report.)