Congresswoman’s SALT Act funds Medicare vision and hearing while restoring tax fairness for families
March 3, 2023 - Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-CA) has reintroduced the Supporting Americans with Lower Taxes (SALT) Act to revise the state and local tax deduction to 
raise revenue while reducing the tax burden on Californian families. Her bill eliminates the Trump-era cap for Americans making less than $400,000 a year to provide relief for people living in high cost-of-living areas.
“Middle-class Californians are already feeling the squeeze; it makes no sense to tax them on money they don’t have,” said Rep. Porter, a Vice Chair of the SALT Caucus. “My bill restores tax fairness for Americans who have experienced the burden of double taxation due to President Trump’s special interest tax giveaway. Not only does the SALT Act provide immediate necessary relief for taxpayers; it also generates enough revenue to fully fund Medicare hearing and vision benefits for the next ten years.”
The state and local tax (SALT) deduction exists to prevent Americans from being taxed again at the federal level on income already taxed and taken by their states. This deduction has been in our tax code for over a century, since the inception of the federal income tax in 1913. In 2017, then-President Trump signed a tax law that imposed a $10,000 cap on the SALT deduction through 2025. This cap discriminates against taxpayers—who earn the same incomes—based solely on where they live, and punishes states where residents have chosen to pay for better schools and services with higher state and local taxes.
Rep. Porter’s SALT Act would:
- Eliminate the SALT deduction cap for single or joint filers that make under $400,000;
- For filers making $400,000 and above, the SALT deduction cap would start at $60,000. The $60,000 SALT cap would then be reduced at a rate of $10,000 for each $100,000 of income in excess of $400,000, so that filers making $1 million or more cannot deduct any state and local taxes.
- Require all tax filers claiming SALT deductions to attest that their total assets do not exceed $1 billion; and
- Direct the revenue raised by this bill to the Medicare trust fund to provide coverage for hearing and vision.
- The SALT Act is estimated to raise $150.9 billion over ten years compared to the status quo policy of maintaining a $10,000 cap through 2025, and then letting it expire entirely. This revenue would fully cover the cost of creating a Medicare hearing and vision benefit. A non-partisan analysis found that Medicare vision and hearing coverage would cost $30 billion and $36 billion, respectively, over ten years.
Source: Congresswoman Katie Porter
- The SALT Act is estimated to raise $150.9 billion over ten years compared to the status quo policy of maintaining a $10,000 cap through 2025, and then letting it expire entirely. This revenue would fully cover the cost of creating a Medicare hearing and vision benefit. A non-partisan analysis found that Medicare vision and hearing coverage would cost $30 billion and $36 billion, respectively, over ten years.
