SALT-focused N.J. members prepare strategies for 2025

When the State and Local Tax deduction cap was first implemented in 2017 – to the undying hatred of most New Jersey politicians, whose high-tax constituents are prevented from deducting as much from their taxes as they once were – it came with a built-in sunset at the end of 2025. If Republicans want the cap to remain in place past this year, they’ll have to pass legislation this year to make it so.

Several suburban New Jersey representatives are working to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Yesterday, the bipartisan SALT Caucus, co-led by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly), met to discuss pro-SALT strategies for 2025. Per Axios, the meeting was full of blue-state House members from both parties whose constituents were hit hard by the cap, among them New Jersey Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) and Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield).

And today, Gottheimer joined fellow SALT Caucus leader Andrew Garbarino (R-New York) in reintroducing the Securing Access to Lower Taxes (SALT) by Ensuring Deductibility Act, a bill that entirely eliminates the SALT cap and lets taxpayers in New Jersey and elsewhere fully deduct state and local taxes from their federal income taxes, instead of being capped at $10,000 as under current law.

“In North Jersey, SALT is a middle class issue, and restoring the deduction will get more dollars back into the pockets of hard-working families who are already struggling with higher costs,” Gottheimer, who is also running for governor of New Jersey this year, said in a statement on the bill. “We need to make life more affordable for Jersey families – and I won’t stop fighting until we cut taxes and get this done.” 

Such a far-reaching bill is unlikely to pass; when the same bill was introduced in 2023, it went nowhere despite having a bipartisan group of 54 co-sponsors (ten of whom were from New Jersey). But pro-SALT Republicans are also trying another avenue: going directly to President-elect Donald Trump, who will play a major role in any tax legislation Congress passes this year.

According to Politico, at a meeting held at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, Trump appeared willing to work with blue-state Republicans to find a “fair number” for the SALT cap, which could be raised from its current $10,000 cap but not eliminated entirely. Kean, who was at the meeting, said in a brief statement earlier this week that the talks were “productive” but declined to provide further details.

“I had a productive meeting with President Trump today discussing the SALT deduction,” Kean said on January 11. “Restoring this relief for middle class families in New Jersey is my top priority in the upcoming tax debate. I will continue to build a broad coalition to get this done for the hardworking families I represent.”

Of course, it was Trump and Republicans who put the cap in place to begin with as part of the sweeping Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017. Thanks to its SALT provisions, that bill proved very unpopular among New Jersey politicians; of the 12 Republicans nationwide who opposed it, four were from New Jersey (one of whom, Rep. Chris Smith, remains in office today).