States Face Uphill Battle to Ditch the SALT Cap in 2020

High-tax states had little luck this year challenging a cap on local tax deductions, and 2020 is shaping up to be just as frustrating for them.

The IRS has left states little room for a legislative maneuver around the $10,000 federal cap on individual taxpayer deductions for state and local taxes, and court challenges appear to have little prospect of success. Likewise, a renewed effort by Democrats on Capitol Hill this month to challenge the cap in the House appears doomed in the Senate.

“I don’t see what else they could do,” Richard Auxier, a researcher at the Tax Policy ...