As the U.S. Senate continues to consider President Biden’s “Build Back Better” (BBB) legislation, the National Taxpayers Union has launched billboard ads in Colorado, Montana and New Hampshire regarding the legislation’s state and local tax (SALT) provision that overwhelmingly benefits millionaires. The message will run outside the district offices of Sens. Michael Bennet (CO), John Tester (MT), and Maggie Hassan (NH).
Wealthy Americans everywhere would surely rejoice at the generous Christmas present if the Senate were to pass President Biden’s BBB legislation before the holidays are over. As NTU has documented, more than 95% of the benefit of the repeal of the state and local deduction cap would accrue to the top quintile, including more than 50% of the benefit to millionaires. Middle-income Americans receive almost no benefit from this provision.
2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act limited the state and local tax deduction to a cap of $10,000, preserving the benefit for middle-income households while significantly reducing the benefits for the ultra-wealthy. The version of President Biden’s Build Back Better plan that was passed by the House of Representatives completely uncaps the deduction, giving millionaires and billionaires a huge tax break that had been limited in the TCJA. Thanks largely to the changes to the SALT cap, in the first year of the House-passed plan, millionaires would see a $47 billion reduction in their taxes, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
Sens. Bennet, Tester, and Hassan have reputations for being moderate Democrats and NTU is pushing them to say NO to the BBB and its huge tax break for the wealthy.
To discuss NTU’s work on the BBB and its ad campaign targeting moderate Democratic senators, please contact NTU Vice President of Communications Kevin Glass at 703-299-8670 or at kglass@ntu.org.