Republican lawmakers have finally unveiled their $4 trillion tax cut package as part of President Trump’s “one big beautiful bill.” The legislation includes some of the president’s key campaign promises, though it will likely need to be amended in the coming days in order to appease blue state Republicans. 

The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Congressman Jason Smith, has been working with colleagues for nearly six months on a bill that centers on making Mr. Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent. Debt hawks have complained that the tax reform itself will be far larger than the amount of budget cuts that are made in order to keep the bill — at its very best — deficit-neutral.

“Seven years ago, the Trump tax cuts sparked an economic boom and provided needed relief to working families. Pro-family, pro-worker tax provisions are the heart of President Trump’s economic agenda that puts working families ahead of Washington and will create jobs, grow wages and investment, and help usher in a new golden age of prosperity,” Mr. Smith said in a statement before the bill text was released.  

The biggest hurdle that House Republican leadership will have to clear at this point is consternation from a small band of GOP lawmakers from high-tax blue states like New York, California, and New Jersey. 

In Mr. Smith’s draft tax bill, the State and Local Tax deduction cap is due to be raised to $30,000 for both individuals and married couples filing jointly. Couples who file separately face a SALt cap of only $15,000. Income restrictions are also included in the bill, with the deduction being phased out for couples filing separately who make more than $200,000 or others who make more than $400,000. 

New York Republicans have already issued their threat to the speaker, saying that a $30,000 cap is “insulting” to their voters. The SALT deduction was first capped in 2017 as part of Mr. Trump’s first tax cut bill. 

“The Speaker and the House Ways and Means Committee unilaterally proposed a flat $30,000 SALT cap — an amount they already knew would fall short of earning our support,” four New York lawmakers — Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and Congressmen Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota, and Mike Lawler said in a statement last week. 

In response to the Ways and Means Committee releasing its text on Monday, Mr. LaLota wrote on X that he is “still a hell no.”

Conservatives, on the other hand, are already starting to raise their own concerns about the tax aspect in the context of cutting spending. Once the initial tax bill was released, Congressman Chip Roy — a key deficit hawk — said he has yet to see a piece of legislation that can win his support. He says “progress” is being made, though they are far from done. 

“Does the bill meaningfully reduce the deficit — getting to $1.5 trillion in supposed savings plus the tax policy is GOOD to be sure. … BUT, it still leaves more than $20 trillion in additional debt in 10 years,” Mr. Roy wrote in a lengthy post on X after the tax bill was unveiled. 

“I remain open-minded because progress has been made based on our forceful efforts to force change. But we cannot continue down the path we’ve been going down — and we will need SIGNIFICANT additional changes to garner my support,” he added. 

The tax bill does include some of Mr. Trump’s campaign promises, including a temporary elimination of taxes on tips and overtime work. Those provisions would expire at the end of the president’s term, however. The elimination of taxes on Social Security is not included in the bill, though Republicans did add a provision that would increase the standard deduction for Social Security recipients.