It remains unclear what the rushed and sprawling Republican tax reform bill will look like in its vote-ready incarnation, but even a cursory appraisal makes two things clear: It shoves more of the nation's wealth upward, into the bank accounts of the richest Americans - deficit be damned - and it could gouge middle-class New Jerseyans.

The partisan bill would eliminate the deduction of state income tax on federal returns, which is a devastating assault on high-tax states such as New Jersey, where 1.8 million households use it - half of them middle-class taxpayers with five-figure incomes.

Repealing this deduction would essentially result in a double taxation - first you pay Trenton, then you pay Washington, without the option to deduct your state tax amount - and ultimately, it would result in horrendous cuts in state and local services and investments.

The GOP also plans to place a $10,000 cap on the property tax deduction: A total of 1.6 million New Jerseyans use it, and they're not all wealthy - 18 percent of them make less than $50,000. If this deduction is capped at $10,000, it will affect thousands of households in every county, according to a New Jersey Policy Perspective analysis.

Both measures would increase the burden on New Jersey, a fat blue target for another GOP trickle-down farce - and we applaud the Republican representatives who jabbed the pause button Thursday.

They know that the argument the plan's architects use for eliminating the so-called SALT deduction is a knee-slapper: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin has suggested that we need to "stop subsidizing states."

That's rich. New Jersey pays $3,700 per person to the federal government over what it gets back. That money goes to places like Mississippi and Alabama, states that both get more than $6,000 per person per year from the feds.

Who is subsidizing this Red State largesse exactly? Hint: Look out your window.

And those other states get to keep their own taxes artificially low because of federal subsidies.

It is unclear how the changes in the standard deductions for families and individuals will offset these broadsides, but let this be your first clue: Already, some of our five GOP representatives say they don't want to find out.

Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., was the first of his tribe to sound the alarm, rejecting the tax plan as "not something I could support in its current form." Rep. Leonard Lance, R-7th Dist., said repealing the state and local tax deduction "makes the bill unacceptable at this time" because it will "hurt New Jersey's hard-working middle-class families and our state economy."

Meanwhile, the most powerful Republican we have in the House, Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist. - surprise - said he hasn't reviewed the entire plan.

But they all need to be heard from. And they are duty-bound to reaffirm that they represent New Jerseyans, not Alabamans.

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