Trump’s Stealthy Battle Against Inequality

The tax cuts of 2017 were widely maligned as being tilted in favor of the 1 percent. This is undoubtedly true when it comes to the reductions in business taxes. Several changes to the personal income tax code, however, were highly progressive — in particular, the cap on state and local tax deductions.

That cap is set at $10,000, which is far more than most Americans would be able to claim. Furthermore, the law also increased the standard deduction. The result is that, according to official government estimates, less than 8 percent of taxpayers will be affected by the cap.