There is so much in the gargantuan $3.5 trillion “soft infrastructure” bill that it’s all too easy to miss important items meant to slip by the masses unnoticed. One such item is proposed relief from the SALT cap that was part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law by President Trump.
The SALT cap, which stopped the rich from deducting millions of dollars from federal taxes, is projected to bring in nearly $400 billion in revenue by the year 2025. However, rich Democrats from high-tax states (and those who represent them) want to wiggle out from paying the extra money even if it’s the poor and middle class who have to pick up the slack.
Far-left Democrats have always stated they were against removing former President Trump’s SALT cap, if for no other reason than it would make them look bad. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has stated his opposition to the move in the past, stating that “you can’t be on the side of the wealthy and powerful if you’re going to really fight for working families.”
However, he himself just used his position as head of the Senate Budget Committee to include SALT cap relief in a recent budget proposal. Perhaps the senator was thinking that no one would notice his about-face. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi seem to be in favor of lifting the cap. After all, it affects their states as well as other Democrat-controlled areas with high tax rates. These states have seen huge departures in recent years as rich individuals, tired of paying more than their share, move to GOP-controlled states with low tax rates.
The move to lift the SALT cap makes it clear that Democrat lawmakers believe they can conjure money out of thin air to pay for their pet projects. Proponents of lifting the SALT cap want to not only spend trillions of dollars the nation doesn’t have on “soft infrastructure,” but also eliminate a huge source of revenue that could provide the government with some of the funding.
Sadly, if Democrats have their way, the spending will happen, someone will have to pay for it, and it won’t be the elite 1 percent. Rather, blue states will win out as they are able to keep taxes high while conservative states with business-friendly practices are left in the cold.
