Trump Pledges to Restore SALT Write-Off

Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that he would restore the full tax write-off for state and local taxes, a deduction that was limited to $10,000 in the tax package he signed into law during his time in the White House.

“I will turn it around, get SALT back, lower your Taxes, and so much more,” Trump said on his social media network, without providing much by way of details.

The comment comes a day before Trump is scheduled to hold a rally on Long Island, in the suburbs of New York City, one of the high-tax areas whose residents have pushed for a restoration of the full value of the SALT deduction.

Trump’s critics were happy to point out that he is responsible for the SALT limit in the first place. “Trump was the one who took away SALT,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat. “It hurt many New Yorkers, including lots on Long Island. Now that he’s going back to Long Island for the first time, he changes his mind? Give me a break.”

Fiscal hawks were quick to remind everyone just how costly a repeal of the SALT limit would be. “Removing the SALT cap would increase the cost of TCJA extension by $1.2 trillion,” said Marc Goldwein of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, referring to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that introduced the cap in 2017.