Biden administration adds last-minute SALT cap increase in Build Back Better bill

A provision in the Build Back Better bill is dedicated to bumping up state and local tax deduction cap. SALT allows people to deduct certain local and state government taxes from their federal fillings.

Biden spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said today President Biden needed to add this SALT provision in order to get lawmakers on board to approve the whole package.

Former President Trump set the SALT cap limit at $10,000. What the Biden administration is currently pushing in their proposal would raise the SALT cap to $80,000 for the next ten years. At the beginning of 2031 it’d revert back to a $10,000 limit.

According to The Hill this $80,000 number is a step up from a previous pitch for a $72,500 cap spotted back on Wednesday.

Even under that previous proposal, the Tax Foundation put together a model of how this SALT deduction change benefits Americans making $150,000 and upwards a year.

Congressional reporters say the SALT situation is at the center of negotiations between moderate Democrats and the Progressive crowd. One commentator described it as a concession to try and ease tensions between the two left-wing camps.

It matters in the negotiation process of the Build Back Better bill because places like New Jersey and New York that have a higher cost-of-living easily hit the $10,000 limit. To that end, Democrat Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, and Democrat Rep. Thomas Suozzi of New York applauded the move.

Tonight the House of Representatives will attempt to vote on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. While progressives are attempting to tie that to the $1.9 trillion economic package (the Build Back Better bill), it’s still unclear how that bargaining chip will pan out in Congress.

In recent days, paid leave was put back into the bill. This as Democrats urged the media to do a better job reporting on the details.