With less than two months until election day, former President Donald Trump's campaign is still releasing tax policy proposals. Last week, he promised to "get SALT back," referring to the $10,000 cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions put in place by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The cap is set to expire at the end of 2025, along with many other rate reductions for individuals, the section 199A deduction for passthroughs, and other investment incentives.

Raising, removing, or retaining the SALT cap is a mostly regional issue that cuts across ideological lines and continues to vex leaders in both parties. Many Republicans argue the SALT deduction is regressive and subsidizes states with high taxes, like California, New York, and New Jersey. Republicans in those states beg to differ: many line up with Democrats on the issue, who argue the SALT deduction helps even out the tax burden of those living in areas with a higher cost of living and more social service demands.

The issue is magnified in terms of political importance because of its potential impact on the narrow majority margins in the House and Senate, as well as its known impact on federal revenue. In the House, the number of SALT-minded Republicans easily exceeds their single-digit margin of majority, meaning they can alter the fate of tax bills. Estimates by the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) and others indicate that repealing the cap would reduce federal revenue in the range of $1 trillion over 10 years. No matter who controls Congress next year, filling that revenue hole will require a big shovel.

These factors help explain how we now find two New York political opponents — Trump and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) — standing on the same ground when it comes to SALT. Last month, Leader Schumer drew a line in the sand with his sternest SALT position yet. "As long as I'm leader, when the state and local deductibility [cap] expires, it will be gone," he promised. At the same time, he was quick to blame the former president for signing the TCJA's SALT cap into law. The Biden administration has given the SALT cap a cold shoulder, and Vice President Kamala Harris has not yet taken a public position on the issue since capturing the nomination.

Trump's new SALT position joins a growing list of post-convention campaign proposals on tax policy. Earlier this month, he proposed reducing the corporate tax rate to 15 percent for companies that "make their products in America" (an even further reduction than his originally-proposed reduction of the corporate tax rate to 20 percent). Also this month, he came out in support of excluding overtime pay from taxation. In late July, he similarly proposed excluding Social Security benefits from taxation. 

The new proposals add to Trump's previous positions to permanently extend the TCJA (SALT cap excepted) and eliminate taxes on tips for hospitality and service employees. To offset some of the forgone revenue, he would raise tariffs across the board with even higher import duties on Chinese products.

With three major new tax proposals from the former president in September alone, it seems likely that Trump will continue to add to his tax playbook this fall as voters pick the coach and players for next year's "Super Bowl of Tax." #TaxTake