Who will — and won’t — benefit from the bigger SALT deduction

For the next five years, there will be a much more generous state and local tax deduction available to federal income tax filers, thanks to the recently enacted mega tax-and-spending-cuts law.

For the next five years, there will be a much more generous state and local tax deduction available to federal income tax filers, thanks to the recently enacted mega tax-and-spending-cuts law. The new law lifts what had been a $10,000 cap to $40,000 for tax year 2025 and then adjusts it upward by 1% a year for 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029. The SALT deduction, as it is known, enables federal income tax filers to deduct either their state and local income taxes or their state and local general sales taxes. On top of that, they are also allowed to deduct their property taxes, assuming their income or sales taxes don’t put them over the cap. But the increased cap may only help a minority of federal income filers. Here’s a breakdown of who will benefit, who will not — as well as those who won’t benefit from the change, but are still better off. Itemizers: The SALT break may only be taken by those who itemize deductions on their federal returns.