At what point do they wake up?

House tax plan now costs $4T, budget forecasters say

A more generous state and local tax deduction added by GOP lawmakers drove an increase in the megabill’s cost, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

By Brian Faler

House Republicans’ tax package is now expected to cost nearly $4 trillion, government forecasters said Wednesday, thanks in part to a last-minute deal to further increase a cap on state and local tax deductions.

The legislation approved last week by the House is now anticipated to cost $3.94 trillion over the next decade, the official Joint Committee on Taxation said.

That’s up from the $3.8 trillion price tag before lawmakers made a number of late changes to the plan.

An agreement with a number of blue-state Republican holdouts to hike the SALT cap to $40,000, from a planned $30,000, would cost an additional $129 billion. The cap is currently $10,000.

At the same time, lawmakers wrung more savings out of a clean energy investment credit that’s now expected to generate $172 billion, up from $155 billion.

Lawmakers approved the legislation shortly before leaving for their Memorial Day recess, but the legislation will be center-stage in the Senate when Congress returns to work next week. Lawmakers there are promising additional changes.

While the $4 trillion price tag means the plan is within House Republicans’ budget, the Senate has not yet settled on how much it intends to spend on tax cuts, and the package could still grow.