Some conservatives have been almost gleeful that the Republican tax overhaul will hurt people who live in high-cost states like California, New Jersey and New York. An economist who has advised President Trump called it “death to Democrats.”
But their celebrations may have been premature. In their rush to enact tax cuts before the end of 2017, Mr. Trump and Republican leaders in Congress created a legislative monster riddled with flaws and loopholes that even they don’t fully understand. They have offered up a bonanza to tax lawyers and accountants looking for provisions that can be exploited to lower taxes for clients.
Add to that list state officials like Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Kevin de León, president pro tem of the California Senate, who say they are working to negate the damage from a part of the tax law that limits the deduction for state and local taxes to $10,000 a year. To put that number into context, the average deduction in California, New Jersey and New York was more than $17,000 in 2015, according to the Government Finance Officers Association. More than a third of taxpayers in those states claimed the deduction.
