TAXES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A big tax break skewed toward Democratic-controlled blue states is the next major battleground as President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans attempt to rewrite the tax code.
The tax policy outline Mr. Trump unveiled Wednesday proposes repealing the deduction for state and local taxes, which lets individuals subtract their home-state levies from their federal taxable income. That move was a major shift for Mr. Trump, who previously had called for capping deductions but not killing the break.
What makes the latest proposal politically divisive—and could lead to a split inside the Republican Party—is that it would shift the tax burden from low-tax states such as Texas and Florida to high-tax states such as New York and New Jersey. Blue-state Democrats criticized the proposal, as expected, but Republicans from those states don’t like it either.”
-Richard Rubin, “Next Tax Battle: Trump’s Bid to Ax a Favorite Blue State Deduction,” The Wal Street Journal online, April 27, 2017 12:41pm