The Westchester Brief | 06.30.26: Your SALT Cap Just Hit $40,400

For seven years, Westchester County homeowners could deduct only $10,000 of their state and local taxes. For 2026 that cap jumps to $40,400, a swing worth thousands of dollars a year for most households below the income phase-out. We explain how the new SALT cap works, why it expires in 2029, and how the Conley versus Lawler race in New York's 17th district will help decide its future.

In This Episode
(0:00) The deduction you lost in 2018, and the news most people missed
(0:20) How the $10,000 cap became $40,400, and the $505,000 phase-out
(1:45) What the change is worth at a Westchester kitchen table
(2:45) Cait Conley, Mike Lawler, and the 2029 clock
(3:30) What else is happening: the New York Blood Center's new Rye campus
(4:00) Close

Sources
SmartAsset and Anchin: the 2026 SALT cap and phase-out
News 12 Westchester: the NY-17 Democratic primary result

Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, or share this episode with a neighbor who owns a home here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

For seven years, Washington capped how much of your property taxes you could deduct at $10,000. A punishing number in a county where the average tax bill runs far higher. That cap is mostly gone now. The catch is it expires in 2029, and the race that decides its future is on your November ballot. This is the Westchester Brief. I'm Jim. Let's get into it. Let me explain the deduction at the center of this, because it touches almost every homeowner in the county. It is called the state and local tax deduction. Salt for short. It lets you subtract what you pay in state income and local property taxes from your federal taxable income. In 2018, a federal tax law capped that deduction at $10,000. For Westchester, where many households pay $35,000 to $45,000 and combined state and local taxes, that cap was expensive. That changed. For 2026, the cap sits at $40,400. It began phasing down only for households earning above $500,000. The higher cap holds from 2025 through 2029. And then unless Congress acts, it snaps back to $10,000. Here is what that means at your kitchen table. A Westchester family below that income line that was capped at $10,000 in deductions can now deduct most of its tax bill again. Depending on income in bracket, that is worth thousands of dollars a year. It is real money, and it is on a clock. Now the politics, told straight, the seat that helps decide whether this relief survives past 2029 is New York's 17th Congressional District, which covers much of northern Westchester. The incumbent, Representative Mike Lawler, built much of his record on raising the salt cap and will run on it. Last week, Kate Conley won the Democratic primary and will challenge him in November. She is expected to contest that record directly. Both will tell you they are the one protecting your deduction. Your job between now and November is to make them prove it. Why does this rise above ordinary tax policy noise? Because salt is arguably the single most consequential federal decision for a high tax county like this one. It affects what you owe, what your home is worth, and how affordable it is to stay. And unlike most federal fights, this one has a local name on the ballot, what to watch, the official primary margins, the general election framing through the fall, and whether any candidate commits to making the higher cap permanent rather than letting it expire. The deduction you lost in 2018 is mostly back. Whether it stays is now a Westchester question. Here is what else is happening across Westchester this week. In Rye, the New York Blood Center opened a new campus of about 187,000 square feet on Midland Avenue. It consolidates blood collection, processing, cell therapy, manufacturing, and life sciences research under one roof, a concrete sign of the county's push to grow a bioscience corridor and the jobs that come with it. That is the brief for today. If this helped you understand your own tax bill a little better, leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts or share the show with a neighbor who owns a home here. I'm Jim, and I live here. I'll see you tomorrow.