Some governors are taking a stab at change. Cuomo, along with seven other Democratic governors, banded together to pressure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to bring up legislation repealing the SALT cap.
Cuomo met with President Donald Trump in February and quoted Trump as saying he was open to discussing a SALT change, but received no assurances from the White House.
Yet Republicans like Grassley aren’t the only problem. Within a Democratic Party that’s embracing proposals to tax the rich, the math behind a SALT cap repeal is unforgiving.
More than a quarter of the benefit in repealing the SALT cap would go to the top 0.1 percent of income earners, according to an analysis by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Nearly 57 percent of the benefit would go to the top 1 percent -- households making $755,000 or more.
“Many members of our caucus need to see the distribution tables on complete repeal of SALT and who it impacts,” said Wisconsin Democratic Congressman Ron Kind.
Kind, who is part of the tax-law-writing Ways and Means committee, said that would be eye-opening for the members.
Without universal support for a full repeal, lawmakers could settle for more modest adjustments.
Andrew Grossman, chief tax counsel for Ways and Means Democrats, has said that the tax-writing panel is trying to figure out how to adjust the SALT cap to provide relief to filers in high-tax states without entirely repealing the new limit -- a move that could make the change easier to pass.
One option, according to lobbyists, is to double the SALT deduction cap to $20,000, either for all filers or for married taxpayers, who currently are treated the same as single filers.
Without major adjustments to other parts of the tax law, a Democratic repeal of the cap would look like a giveaway to the wealthy, said Don Snyder, a tax lobbyist with the Federal Policy Group.