The future of “One Big Beau Bill” by President Donald Trump, who would finance his second mandate program could depend on salt.
The tax and local tax deduction was a gap between Democrats and Republicans, but now a division between members of the GOP Chamber of High Tax Districs and Tax Ternels who consider it as subsidized blue states.
The president himself added more confusion on the debate.
The president of the Caucus of the House Freedom, Andy Harris, accompanied by the representative Chip Roy, talks about the House Freedom Caucus and their negotiations in progress on the “One, Big, beautiful bill” at the American Capitol, on May 21, 2025 in Washington.
Andrew Harnik / Getty images
What is salt?
The deduction of salt allows taxpayers to detail state and local taxes in their file, including land taxes.
States residents like New York, New Jersey and California, as well as cities like Salt Lake City, Miami and Houston, which have a larger share of richer taxpayers and owners, have used the deduction the most, according to IRS data.
The Tax Foundation, a non -profit organization that analyzes tax data, found that in 2017, around 90% of the value of the deduction went to families earning more than $ 100,000.
Before 2017, taxpayers had a total unlimited deduction in salt. The average salt deduction was around $ 13,000 nationally and less than $ 15,000 in most counties, according to the non -profit group The Center for Tax Policy for Urban Brokers.
Cracks develop after Trump has set salt limits
During his first mandate, the Trump Trump’s Trump’s tax reductions and jobs made huge federal expenses to pay tax loss for richer Americans. The bill closed the deduction of salt at $ 10,000.
Democrats and Republicans in the states that had benefited from the higher salt ceiling protested this bill of the bill, arguing that this would harm their voters.
Representative Ralph Norman and representative Chip Roy attend the audience of a Chamber’s Rules Committee on the plan of the US President Donald Trump for in -depth tax reductions, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on May 21, 2025.
Nathan Howard / Reuters
“It is a geographic redistribution of wealth,” said CNBC in 2017, the member of the Republican Congress of New York, Lee Zeldin.
Zeldin, who was Trump’s choice to direct the Environmental Protection Agency during his second term, was one of the 13 Republican members of the Chamber who voted against the bill.
The Republicans of the Chamber, who finally prevailed, argued that salt benefited the richest Americans.
“It is a question of giving larger workers taxpayers of larger pay checks, more home salary,” said Paul Ryan, then the thief, after the bill is adopted by the Chamber.
The head of the Senate minority, Chuck Schumer, repeatedly criticized Trump and the Republicans for having capped the deduction of salt and called for elimination.
“The congress has placed a Bullseye on New York State-you don’t have to be a partisan nose to feel a rat, but I tell you, this stinking plan,” he told journalists in 2017.
Total salt deduced by file
Taxfoundation.org
Garrett Watson, director of policies analysis at Fact Foundation, told ABC News that the majority of taxpayers do not detail the case with their taxes. He said only a small fraction of taxpayers, around 5 million people, has salt deductions over $ 10,000.
“I think that the reason she is protruding is that she has a notable impact for these taxpayers. This affects in terms of net responsibility,” he said. “If you have $ 25,000 in salt deductions, for example in New York, this difference of $ 15,000 can make a difference in the amount of taxes that you potentially increase in the hundreds, even thousands of dollars.”
Trump changes his air, but not everyone plays along
Trump ignored the criticisms when he signed the tax bill in 2017 and moved forward with he Satl Cap, but his message changed after being elected to the office in 2020.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump undertook to end the ceiling. He did not mention that he defended and signed the 2017 bill which created it.
“I’m going to turn it over, recover the salt, reduce your taxes, and much more,” Trump posted on Truth social in September, just before a campaign rally in the county of Nassau, New York, one of the counties with the most salt deductions.
A program with the words “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” printed during an audience of a committee of the rules of the Chamber of the President Donald Trump for in -depth tax discounts, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on May 21, 2025.
Nathan Howard / Reuters
He made the same complaint during the rally, but did not offer any details.
While the New York Republicans praised the overthrow, the Democrats, including Schumer, called Trump Out for his hypocrisy.
“His tax bill has done so, a dagger intended for the blue states that want to spend a little more to help people with housing, health care, education, transport,” said Schumer on the Senate soil the day after the rally. “Suddenly, now that he is in Long Island, the selective amnesia of Donald Trump comes into play and he reverses himself completely on salt.”
Trump continued to put pressure on salt changes, but everyone in his party has not jumped on board.
Salt in budgetary injuries
Salt has become a sticky point in republican intestine struggles for “Big Beautiful Bill” by Trump.
Several members of the GOP chamber, including representative Mike Lawler of New York, promised to vote not on the bill without increasing the salt ceiling.
“So, it is, as it stands, I was very clear. It does not have my support,” he told journalists last week.
Lawler said that Republican restaurants “lowered a whole multitude of people who are hammered by land taxes”.
The GOP representative, Nick Lalota of New York, said “that there is no contract without real salt shaker”.
Exasperated house of the tax tax gop pushed any agreement to increase the salt ceiling while they are looking to reduce debt.
“You have to get behind the cuts we need to find the savings we need to find. Stop B —-,” said representative Eric Burlison, R-MO. “The reality is that we have 37 billions of dollars of debt and we have a deficit of 2 billions of dollars. This is a mathematical problem.”
President Donald Trump talks about the gold anti -missile defense shield at the White House Oval Office on May 20, 2025 in Washington.
Chris KLEPONIS / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
Watson said the original ceiling was designed to compensate for several dollars of tax discounts in 2017 and it is a crucial part of the calculation.
“You will have to find the money elsewhere or increase the deficit,” he said.
Watson also noted that the debate also focuses on “tax equity”.
“This can tackle questions if the federal government subsidizes or effectively reducing effective tax rates for the high and high states of the vial states. This is a profound disagreement between the parties,” he said.
During a meeting with the Republicans of the House on Tuesday, Trump told them “do not let the salt hindered this bill”, saying that they could fight to raise the ceiling later.
A provisional agreement overnight which would increase the ceiling to $ 30,000 threatened the hopes of GOP Leadership to put the bill on the ground for a vote.
Maryland’s Andy Harris representative, President of the Conservative Freedom Council Council, said the salt agreement pushed wrinkles “further from an agreement”.
“This bill actually worsened overnight,” Harris told Newsmax on Wednesday. “There is no way to pass today.”
“We may need a few weeks to go back, but it doesn’t go nowhere today,” he said.
Hardliners met Trump on Wednesday afternoon to see if he can break the deadlock.
