Latest news with #LaLota
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Loses Patience With SALT Demand as Tax Bill Faces Snag
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is growing frustrated with demands to significantly boost the cap on the state and local tax deduction, according to a senior administration official, signaling a deadlock as Republicans aim to quickly pass a giant tax-cut bill. America, 'Nation of Porches' Can Frank Gehry's 'Grand LA' Make Downtown Feel Like a Neighborhood? Chicago's O'Hare Airport Seeks Up to $4.3 Billion of Muni Debt NJ Transit Makes Deal With Engineers, Ending Three-Day Strike NJ Transit Train Engineers Strike, Disrupting Travel to NYC Trump told lawmakers in a meeting on Tuesday not to let the SALT deduction or differences over social safety-net cuts impede the measure. But afterward members of warring factions told reporters they were still dug in in opposing the bill unless their changes are made. Trump urged Republicans from New York and other high-tax states to wait to try to raise the SALT limit further until after Congress is done with the tax legislation, the official said, a proposal that is likely to draw backlash from SALT lawmakers who see the president's 'one big, beautiful bill' as their sole shot to address a political priority that dates to 2017. Still, Republican leaders are continuing negotiations with SALT advocates. Representative Nick LaLota emerged from House Speaker Mike Johnson's office on Tuesday afternoon, saying they received an 'improved offer.' LaLota said House leaders' plan was not yet acceptable, but was optimistic they could reach a deal by the end of the day. He didn't disclose the details of the latest offer. Trump told lawmakers in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday he wants to keep the SALT deduction limit at $30,000, the level in the draft legislation. That's three times the current $10,000 cap. Increasing the SALT cap beyond what's in the bill would be more costly and risk angering ultraconservatives concerned about the size of the tax cuts. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican, stormed out of Johnson's office late Tuesday night, telling reporters not to follow him. Axios reported late Tuesday that the tentative deal would raise the SALT deduction to $40,000 a year for people making as much as $500,000. The income phaseout would grow 1% a year over a decade, and then the deduction would become permanent, according to Axios. Such an offer would quell some of the concerns of the SALT caucus, who rejected an earlier $40,000 cap that lasted only for four years. After four years, the limit would snap back to $30,000 with a $400,000 income limit. SALT caucus members said they do not want a temporary increase and have said they want a doubled cap to avoid a marriage penalty on joint filers. Trump in his meeting with House Republicans singled out members from New York, New Jersey and California who have rejected the $30,000 deduction limit, saying it is insufficient to win their votes. 'My middle class constituents should not be shut out of this process,' LaLota said. Several SALT advocates have said they are willing to block Trump's bill without a bigger deduction, and are unlikely to heed the president's advice to address the issue later. Those lawmakers believe the tax reconciliation package is their only real opportunity to secure more SALT in the foreseeable future because they have negotiating leverage to hold up Trump's top legislative priorities. Trump botth as a presidential candidate and in the White House has pledged bigger SALT deductions, a policy reversal after his first-term tax cut legislation imposed the current $10,000 cap. He is also losing patience with a faction of conservative hardliners pushing for deeper cuts to Medicaid health coverage for the poor and disabled, the official said. The president implored Republicans to stick together and pass the legislation, the official said, adding that Trump expects every Republican to vote for the bill on the floor. During the meeting with House Republicans, the president spoke individually with holdouts both from high-tax states and conservative hardliners, said Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado. Yet ultraconservatives said they were no more swayed by Trump's arguments than were SALT lawmakers. 'We aren't doing enough on Medicaid,' Harris said after the meeting adding that that he would still oppose the tax bill as written. The current version of the legislation places new work requirements on able-bodied adults and imposes fees for health care services on more Medicaid beneficiaries. Representative Andy Biggs, a Republican hardliner from Arizona, said he was unmoved by calls to move quickly on the bill, saying he was more focused on the final product than the timeline. SALT Negotiations Johnson was positive about the chances for a deal. He still plans for the House to vote on the package by the end of the week. 'We're going to get an agreement on everything necessary to get this over the line,' he said Tuesday. Earlier: New Yorkers Vow to Block House GOP Tax Bill Over SALT Limit Stephen Miran, who chairs the White House Council of Economic Advisors, said he was confident Trump would be able to quickly reach a deal on SALT with House Republicans. 'The president will deliver SALT relief to American households. I don't know exactly what the number will shake out,' Miran told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday. 'The president is one of the best negotiators in history and he's shown over a career spanning decades that he can forge hundreds of deals and I think he'll forge another one right in front of us now.' The holdout lawmakers — who also include New York's Mike Lawler, Andrew Garbarino and Elise Stefanik, New Jersey's Tom Kean and Young Kim of California — have threatened to reject any tax package that does not raise the SALT cap sufficiently. Earlier: Trump Plans to Rally Fractious House Republicans on Tax Cuts Republicans are trying to keep revenue losses from their tax-cut package down to a self-imposed limit of $4.5 trillion over 10 years. The current package has a $3.8-trillion revenue loss. --With assistance from Maeve Sheehey, Skylar Woodhouse, Jack Fitzpatrick, Nacha Cattan, Steven T. Dennis, Tyler Kendall, Jamie Tarabay, Jonathan Ferro and Ari Natter. (Updates with Andy Harris in seventh paragraph and tentative deal further down.) 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Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Conservative rips blue state Republican's proposal to raise taxes on wealthy in SALT debate
EXCLUSIVE: A conservative Republican said he's opposed to his moderate colleague's proposal for a modest tax hike on high-income earners, as GOP lawmakers continue to navigate divisions over President Donald Trump's "one big, beautiful bill." "Well, think about that — higher taxes to pay for something that is pretty much self-inflicted by all the states that don't have their financials in order," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital on Sunday. It comes as various House Republican factions are locked in high-stakes debates on taxes, Medicaid, and green energy subsidies while crafting Trump's wide-ranging bill. Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., suggested over the weekend that increasing the top tax bracket to a 39.6% income tax rate rather than 37% could help pay for higher deduction caps for state and local taxes (SALT). Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Passes Key House Hurdle After Gop Rebel Mutiny The 39.6% rate refers to the top income tax bracket before it was lowered by Trump's 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Read On The Fox News App SALT deduction caps primarily benefit people living in high-cost-of-living areas like New York City, Los Angeles, and their surrounding suburbs. Republicans representing those areas, including LaLota, have argued that raising the SALT deduction cap is an existential issue — and that a failure to address it could cost the GOP the House majority in the 2026 midterms. Several of the Republicans vying for higher SALT deduction caps have pointed out that their victories are critical to the party retaining control of the House in 2024. SALT deduction caps did not exist before TCJA, which notably instilled a $10,000 ceiling for married and single tax filers. "The One Big Beautiful Bill has stalled—and it needs wind in its sails. Allowing the top tax rate to expire—returning from 37% to 39.6% for individuals earning over $609,350 and married couples earning over $731,200—breathes $300 billion of new life into the effort," LaLota wrote on X. "It's a fiscally responsible move that reflects the priorities of the new Republican Party: protect working families, address the deficit, fix the unfair SALT cap, and safeguard programs like Medicaid and SNAP—without raising taxes on the middle class." But Republicans in lower-tax states are largely wary of significant increases to those caps, believing them to incentivize blue states' high-tax policies. "People with money invest, and to tax them more — history has been, when you tax the other upper 1% more, you know, the economy does worse," Norman argued. "More taxes don't make sense to me." The current legislation would increase the SALT deduction cap from $10,000 to $30,000, but a majority of Republicans in the House SALT Caucus rejected the deal. LaLota and others have contended it's not enough for middle-class families in their districts. "My party's $30K cap proposal only makes 4 in 5 households whole. That's not enough. On [Long Island], $250K isn't rich—it barely covers the basics. Too many families pay over $15K in property taxes & get left out. I'm fighting for a higher cap. Wish me luck," he said on X. But while tax hike proposals targeting wealthy Americans were part of Republicans' negotiations at an earlier point, any such effort appears to have been all but definitively stamped out. House GOP leadership aides signaled to reporters on Monday morning that such a tax hike would not be in the final bill, pointing to Speaker Mike Johnson's comments on the matter. Johnson, R-La., said on The Will Cain Show late last month that he was "not in favor of raising the tax rates, because our party is the group that stands against that, traditionally." House Gop Targets Another Dem Official Accused Of Blocking Ice Amid Delaney Hall Fallout But nevertheless, the differing viewpoints underscore the divisions that Republicans still have to navigate ahead of their planned House-wide vote on Trump's bill later this week. Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process to advance Trump's priorities on taxes, immigration, energy, defense and the national debt via one massive bill. Budget reconciliation lowers the Senate's threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, thereby allowing the party in power to skirt the minority — in this case, Democrats — to pass sweeping pieces of legislation, provided they deal with the federal budget, taxation or the national debt. Republican leaders want to have a final bill on the president's desk by Fourth of July. Fox News Digital reached out to LaLota's office for comment on Norman's remarks but did not immediately hear article source: Conservative rips blue state Republican's proposal to raise taxes on wealthy in SALT debate
The Herald Scotland
18-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
White House touts immigration measures in Trump's 'stalled' tax bill
The GOP lawmakers who oppose the legislation wanted deeper spending cuts. As written, the bill would have added trillions of dollars to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade. Struggling to get the votes to advance the bill, the White House shifted the focus to immigration enforcement measures within the legislation, which are popular within the GOP. The bill would provide funding to boost Trump's deportation efforts, the White House noted in a May 17 press release. "Put simply, The Big Beautiful Bill will empower Big Beautiful Deportations," the release states. Trump's deportation tactics have been controversial. He has relied on an 18th-century wartime law to swiftly remove migrants, drawing complaints and court challenges asserting his administration is depriving people of their right to due process. The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, has attracted considerable attention. However, stronger immigration enforcement is a unifying message for a GOP Congress divided on how to fashion a package of tax and spending cuts. With lawmakers at odds over how deeply to cut spending, Congressman Nick LaLota, R-New York, declared on May 17 that the legislation had "stalled" and suggested raising revenue by letting tax cuts enacted during Trump's first administration expire for high earners. LaLota suggested allowing the tax rate to go from 37% to 39.6% for individuals earning more than $609,350 and married couples earning more than $731,200, saying it "breathes $300 billion of new life into the effort" and is in line with the GOP's new focus on working-class voters. "The One Big Beautiful Bill has stalled - and it needs wind in its sails. Allowing the top tax rate to expire... breathes $300 billion of new life into the effort," LaLota wrote on social media. Trump has said he wouldn't mind raising taxes on high earners, but is worried about the politics. The president has urged Republicans to come together and support his legislation, posting on social media May 16 that "We don't need 'GRANDSTANDERS' in the Republican Party." "STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!" Trump added. GOP lawmakers who voted against Trump's bill said they hoped to reach a deal with House Speaker Mike Johnson to amend the legislation over the weekend. Contributing: Reuters
USA Today
18-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
'Big Beautiful Deportations': White House shifts focus on 'stalled' bill
'Big Beautiful Deportations': White House shifts focus on 'stalled' bill Show Caption Hide Caption Republicans reject Trump tax-cut bill after president calls for unity Trump's sweeping tax bill failed to clear a key hurdle, as hardline Republicans wanted deeper cuts to programs like Medicaid. With President Donald Trump's legislative agenda in trouble, the White House pivoted over the weekend to selling the bill as a key part of his immigration enforcement efforts. Trump was dealt a rare setback in Congress on May 16 when five Republicans joined with Democrats on the House Budget Committee in voting against the president's legislation, which includes tax cuts, immigration enforcement measures and other GOP priorities. Trump has dubbed it the 'one big, beautiful bill.' The GOP lawmakers who oppose the legislation wanted deeper spending cuts. As written, the bill would have added trillions of dollars to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade. Struggling to get the votes to advance the bill, the White House shifted the focus to immigration enforcement measures within the legislation, which are popular within the GOP. The bill would provide funding to boost Trump's deportation efforts, the White House noted in a May 17 press release. 'Put simply, The Big Beautiful Bill will empower Big Beautiful Deportations,' the release states. Trump's deportation tactics have been controversial. He has relied on an 18th-century wartime law to swiftly remove migrants, drawing complaints and court challenges asserting his administration is depriving people of their right to due process. The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, has attracted considerable attention. However, stronger immigration enforcement is a unifying message for a GOP Congress divided on how to fashion a package of tax and spending cuts. With lawmakers at odds over how deeply to cut spending, Congressman Nick LaLota, R-New York, declared on May 17 that the legislation had 'stalled' and suggested raising revenue by letting tax cuts enacted during Trump's first administration expire for high earners. LaLota suggested allowing the tax rate to go from 37% to 39.6% for individuals earning more than $609,350 and married couples earning more than $731,200, saying it 'breathes $300 billion of new life into the effort' and is in line with the GOP's new focus on working-class voters. "The One Big Beautiful Bill has stalled – and it needs wind in its sails. Allowing the top tax rate to expire... breathes $300 billion of new life into the effort," LaLota wrote on social media. Trump has said he wouldn't mind raising taxes on high earners, but is worried about the politics. The president has urged Republicans to come together and support his legislation, posting on social media May 16 that 'We don't need 'GRANDSTANDERS' in the Republican Party.' 'STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!' Trump added. GOP lawmakers who voted against Trump's bill said they hoped to reach a deal with House Speaker Mike Johnson to amend the legislation over the weekend. Contributing: Reuters
Business Insider
17-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A GOP congressman says raising taxes on top earners would help push Trump's 'big beautiful bill' forward
A GOP congressman said on Saturday that raising the top tax rate for high earners could help President Donald Trump 's massive tax and immigration package get the votes it needs. "The One Big Beautiful Bill has stalled — and it needs wind in its sails," Rep. Nick LaLota said on X. "Allowing the top tax rate to expire — returning from 37% to 39.6% for individuals earning over $609,350 and married couples earning over $731,200 — breathes $300 billion of new life into the effort." LaLota said that his proposal would be fiscally prudent and could be done "without raising taxes on the middle class." The New York congressman has suggested that the money generated from raising taxes on high earners could protect Medicaid and "fix" the cap on the so-called SALT deduction. A SALT deduction allows taxpayers to deduct their state and local tax payments. Since 2018, however, there's been a $10,000 limit on those deductions. LaLota is among several New York Republicans who are seeking a higher limit so taxpayers can deduct more. The GOP-led bill proposes raising the cap to $30,000 for taxpayers who earn $400,000 or less. LaLota wants to see the SALT cap set at $62,000 for single filers and $124,000 for joint filers. Hardline conservatives on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, believe the tax bill should include more spending reductions, arguing that it doesn't go far enough in cutting into the nation's budget deficit. On Friday, five Republicans on the House Budget Committee joined Democrats to tank a procedural vote that would have advanced the "one big beautiful bill." House GOP leaders are working through the weekend to put together a deal that could pass in a Sunday night committee vote. They're still aiming to pass the bill on the House floor by Memorial Day, but the failed vote was a big setback for both Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson. On Friday, Trump urged GOP unity on the bill in a post on TruthSocial. "Republicans MUST UNITE behind, 'THE ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!'" he said. "We don't need 'GRANDSTANDERS' in the Republican Party. STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!" Conservatives have long advocated for tax cuts for higher earners. However, in recent weeks, Trump has seemingly opened the door to raising taxes on rich Americans to help fund the tax bill, a significant development for a GOP president. Earlier in May, Trump said on Truth Social that he'd "graciously accept" a small increase on the top tax rate for millionaires but conceded it would present risks for his party.
