State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Mayors Not Letting Up in Fight to Preserve the State and Local Tax Deduction

Route Fifty: WASHINGTON — Mayors from around the U.S. are keeping up pressure on the White House and members of Congress as the city executives try to thwart proposals to eliminate a federal tax deduction for income households use to pay state and local taxes.

The deduction, commonly referred to as SALT, is an attractive target as congressional Republicans and the Trump administration push to overhaul the U.S. tax code. Eliminating it could raise, by some estimates, $1.3 trillion over a decade to help offset tax cuts for businesses and individuals that lawmakers and the president support.

But some local leaders say nixing SALT could make it harder for states and localities to raise their own taxes. And critics of eliminating the deduction argue that without it people would face double taxation, with income going toward state and local taxes taxed federally as well.

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