Republican congresspersons are fighting over a key tax program that disproportionately affects swing districts. If they don't come to an agreement, it might stop President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’
“My party needs my vote in order to extend the tax cuts that didn’t get the votes from members in districts like mine eight years ago,” Congressman LaLota (R-NY) said to the Washington Post. “So there can’t be the same cap there was eight years ago. That reality doesn’t exist. There’s a new reality.”
The house has a three-seat margin, meaning Speaker Mike Johnson can’t afford to lose the five Republicans who have unified to oppose a tax bill that does not significantly increase the SALT cap.
The SALT tax cap (State and Local Tax Cap) was introduced during President Donald Trump’s first term as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017. It limited federal tax deductions for state and local taxes to $10,000 per year.
LaLota, along with Andrew R. Garbarino (R-NY), Michael Lawler (R-NY), Tom Kean Jr. (R-NJ), and Young Kim (R-CA) have redlined the issue because their districts' taxes are significantly higher than the rest of the GOP base.
In a February White House meeting, Lawler made clear to GOP leaders and Trump that he would lose reelection if Congress did not raise the cap.
However, other members of the republican party view the cap differently.
“The taxpayers of Tennessee shouldn’t have to bail out somebody in New York because of their bad decisions. They’ve got terrible tax laws up there,” Congressman Tim Burchett (R-TN) told The Washington Post.
“You want to help them, help take care of their middle-income families, while at the same time recognizing that you can’t bring the deduction back,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said.
“The cost of it was massive. And overall, it’s the idea that 45 states are subsidizing five states that have very high taxes imposed by their leftist governor.”
According to the Post, “the median household income in Scalise’s district was $5,000 lower than the national median in 2023.” It's also nearly $50,000 less than the median in LaLota’s Long Island district, according to the Census Bureau.
These same concerns were raised in 2017, and then-Congresspersons Peter King (R-NY) and Frank A. LoBiondo (R-NJ) did not vote for the bill. But Republicans were still able to pass the SALT tax cap. This year, they need those votes.
