WEST VIRGINIA (WDVM) — President Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan has been at the center of a lot of debate, with much of the controversy surrounding the size of the spending plan.
On Wednesday, West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito, along with other Republican senators, criticized a tax cut in the bill.
The “state and local tax” — or “SALT” — deduction is intended to help Americans to pay lower federal income taxes, based on how much they’ve already paid in state and local taxes. The maximum deduction was capped at $10,000 in 2017 through former President Donald Trump’s tax bill. Now, Democrats are proposing to raise the cap to just over $70,000.
Sen. Capito and other Republicans spoke against this change, as low-income residents in low-tax states (which tend to be red states) don’t stand to benefit from it.
“We are one of the states who has the lowest participation, in terms of being able to take advantage of a SALT deduction,” said Sen. Capito. “So I don’t want to subsidize the billionaires in these states — the 10 biggest states — that are going to be getting the largest amount of benefit.”
Capito also said if the spending plan makes its way to the Senate with the SALT deduction still intact, she has plans to try and have it removed.