SALT deductions are a massive tax break for the wealthy. Your own partisanship that would see them restored is just as powerful, and the tax policy you advocate here is more regressive.

> SALT deductions are a massive tax break for the wealthy.

How?

The point of being able to deduct state and local taxes from federal ones is to devolve power to as local a level of government as possible. You've already paid the local authorities some taxes, so now you owe the federal government less.

SALT limits do the opposite of that.

SALT is a tax break for the rich because state and local taxes are progressive, the rich pay more per dollar earned, and the rich are much less likely to be taking the standard deduction.

And when a state like New York or California decides to raises income taxes, it should not be understood that they are strengthening their participation in any power devolution scheme. It could work that way, but it doesn't. The Feds do not generally delegate their services like that.

When I bought my home in 2008, I made $80k, and mortgage + taxes allowed me to itemize my charitable and some work expenses. It was not a ton of money, but helped with the community work that I do.

I wasn’t exactly living in the gutter, but would say I was “rich”.

> the rich are much less likely to be taking the standard deduction.

Not sure what that has to do with SALT deductions. My understanding is they were on top of the standard deduction, not as an additional line on itemized deductions.

Why should 2 people with the same income, who get the same services for the federal government pay different federal tax rates? That's what SALT does, and it should have been eliminated entirely.

I live in New York, which has a net outflow of Federal revenues that makes life in many states possible. Most of the states impacted have outflows like that.

So frankly, I think it’s fair for some Midwest farmer with land left barely fertile due to mono cropping to pay the full shot of capital gains on his farm, after all, the farm would be worthless without federal price supports, irrigation, levee systems, and direct payments for the corn. Likewise, the Floridian using the homestead laws to launder money in property should be paying the full shot on the Miami condo.

When demographics starts shifting the congress in a few years, I’m sure similar scorched earth policy will happen, which sucks, becuase it will utterly destroy whatever rural economy exists in these states.

2 people with the same income get different benefits, if one lives in a red state, and the other in a blue state. The red state is a net recipient of federal funding, the blue state is a net provider. Most red state economies would implode without this fire-hose of free money. Texas or Florida might be okay, the rest, not so much.

The same thing plays out on the state level. Eastern Washington loves to complain about taxes, and I would love nothing more than to let it have its wish... As long as Western Washington can stop subsidizing it.