Buried within the more than 74,000 pages of our nation’s tax code lies a special tax deduction that allows state and local governments with excessively high taxes to shift part of the burden to taxpayers in other states.

In other words, the state and local tax deduction forces taxpayers in low tax states to subsidize the big-government spending policies of states like California.

Not only does this deduction feed lawmakers’ spending addiction, it makes it easier for these states to accumulate debt, which could ultimately result in future requests for federal bailouts.

While it’s clear that SALT is detrimental to our economy as a whole, it’s important to take a closer look at who actually benefits.

Only seven states – California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey – receive more than 50 percent of the benefit from the SALT deduction. If you zoom in even closer, you find that on average millionaires in New York and California deduct more than $450,000 in state and local taxes, leading to a federal tax break of more than $180,000. Meanwhile, most Americans (70 percent) don’t even itemize their deductions and thus receive no benefit from SALT.

But that’s not the story you’ll hear from some members of Congress in high tax states, like Rep. Steve Knight, R-Antelope Valley, who is armed with false reports and fighting to preserve the status quo.

Rep. Knight recently stated, “I have said that (SALT deduction) is my No. 1 priority, so if we can’t get it fixed, then we’re going to have problems with this. You’ve got to show me that the people that are in California are going to get a tax break.”

And why would lawmakers want to address their poor policy decisions when they could continue to sit back and spend? Currently, they don’t feel the consequences of their harmful economic policies because the federal government is softening the blow.

However, if Congress eliminates SALT it would unleash economic growth and bring in an estimated $1.3 trillion in new revenue for the federal government that could be used to lower rates by as much as 16 percent across the board. Coupled with other meaningful reforms such as lowering the corporate tax rate and eliminating special interest loopholes, taxpayers all across the country – including California – will see higher wages, more job opportunities, and a simplified tax code that Americans can easily understand.

Thankfully not all California lawmakers share Rep. Knight’s thinking. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, stated in a recent interview, “Why punish the rest of the nation because California is stupid? It’s a tough vote, but I’m not going to keep the economy down for the whole country because California’s got a bad government.”

Authors of the House GOP tax proposal agree with Rep. Hunter and have included language to eliminate SALT in the Tax Cut and Jobs Act.

Repealing SALT would finally put pressure on these states to lower taxes, otherwise they’ll find that families and businesses would rather move to states with governments that are better stewards of our tax dollars.

After all, pro-growth tax reform means providing much needed relief for Americans – not helping state and local governments fill their revenue coffers.

Dan Holler is vice president of Heritage Action for America.