EXCERPT FROM THIS ARTICLE:

While Democratic leaders work out how to pay for a $1.75 trillion reconciliation bill that could include enhanced child tax credits, universal preschool, and subsidized childcare, they’re also kicking around the idea of throwing in a major tax cut — one whose benefits would overwhelmingly accrue to the highest income earners.

In fact, some of the biggest beneficiaries could be the very politicians who are pushing to get it passed.

Included in the bill is a provision to raise the current $10,000 limit on state and local tax deductions, known as the SALT cap, to as high as $80,000. Established in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the cap restricts how much high earners can write off on their federal tax returns. If it’s raised, the rare earners who pay property, state, and local income taxes in excess of $80,000 could write off an additional $70,000 on their federal returns.

At the top federal income tax rate of 37%, these filers would add nearly $26,000 to their net income every year. Those with middle incomes could get a tax cut, too — about $20 a year, on average.

Maxine Waters
Estimated property value: $4 million
Estimated property taxes: $32,000
Estimated write-off: $22,000
Waters, who chairs the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, lives in a 6,000-square-foot Los Angeles mansion that is no longer located in her district . With an $80,000 SALT cap, Waters could write off an additional $22,000 in property taxes.

Joe Biden
Estimated property value: $3.8 million
Estimated property taxes: $21,000
Estimated write-off: $11,000
The president owns two Delaware homes, one in Wilmington and one in Rehoboth Beach, with a combined value of just under $4 million. Thanks to the state’s low property taxes, it is estimated that he owed a relatively paltry $21,000 to the local authorities for them in 2021. Still, raising the SALT cap could grant Biden a cool $11,000 federal tax write-off from his two houses.

Nancy Pelosi

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