The second most expensive provision in the reconciliation bill at the center of Democratic negotiations on the Hill might wind up not being more assistance for the poor but rather a massive tax break for the wealthy. According to multiple sources, Democrats are trying to insert a five-year removal of the state and local tax deduction, with Punchbowl News claiming it may be retroactive. If so, it would cost $88 billion per year, nearly three times the amount allocated for climate change and the Affordable Care Act.

Top Democrats have already angered liberals by scaling down the price of the reconciliation bill by half, culminating in a patchwork omnibus of temporary spending and devoid of a key promise: paid parental leave. Issuing a removal of the SALT deduction, even temporarily, ought to make the bill a nonstarter for the Left.