A Republican-only partisan majority undermined state tax deductibility for an obvious reason: it provides some revenue to offset corporate and higher-income tax cuts, while burdening predominantly Democratic states. The states with the highest state and local tax (abbreviated as “SALT”) levels and hence the highest deductibility are blue states: California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland. On the other hand, the House Republican leadership had tools to force many House Republicans from blue states to toe the party line. The House Republican leadership then knows exactly how many blue state Republicans it needs. Blue state Republicans have to worry about primary challenges if their scores are not 100% conservative.

Source: Forbes October 26, 2017 20:03 UTC