Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California defended a measure to lift the amount of state and local taxes (SALT) that people can deduct from their federal tax bills to $80,000 from $10,000 through 2026. The $10,000 limit was imposed under President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law.
This isn’t about who gets a tax cut, it’s about which states get the revenue they need in order to meet the needs of the people,” she said at her weekly press conference. “That is a fight that I will continue to make.”
She claimed that tax cuts for the rich “isn’t the result” of the House bill. But experts say lifting the SALT cap would overwhelmingly benefit richer Americans.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont pushed back against Pelosi, saying “I think it’s bad politics, it’s bad policy.”
“Bottom line, We need to help the middle class, not the 1%,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju.
Their dispute comes as Democrats become increasingly anxious with the largest slice of Biden’s social spending bill: a tax cut for rich Americans residing in high-tax, predominantly blue states.
