President Donald Trump took a surprising swipe Tuesday at efforts to increase a key tax deduction — underscoring that the main beneficiaries would be Democratic “governors from New York, Illinois and California.”
His comments, during a visit to Capitol Hill to rally support for his policy meagabill, came as House Republicans from blue states are holding out for a major increase in the federal deduction for state and local taxes, or SALT.
“Well SALT is a very interesting thing. The big JB is going nowhere, probably right now, he could be the worst governor in the country, but Illinois and Gavin ‘Newscum,’ those are the people that want this, and they’re Democrat states,” Trump told reporters at the Capitol, referring to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and using a pejorative for California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The comments stood in stark contrast to remarks Trump made during his presidential campaign to “get SALT back.” New York, New Jersey and California Republicans have often cited Trump’s remarks to push for an increase in the current $10,000 cap on the deduction.
But now, Trump appears to be exerting pressure on the group to wrap up negotiations as House GOP leadership pushes to put the GOP’s marquee energy, border and tax legislation on the floor as soon as Wednesday.
The fight over SALT has been one of the key battles holding up progress on the legislation. The group of so-called SALT Republicans have said they’re not satisfied with a proposal in the current GOP tax legislation that would pump the cap up to $30,000, albeit with a new restriction limiting the higher deduction to those making below $400,000.