For seven years you could deduct only $10,000 of your taxes, in a county where the bill often runs four times that. That just changed.

The state and local tax deduction, SALT for short, lets you subtract what you pay in state income and local property taxes from your federal taxable income. In 2018, a federal law capped it at $10,000. For Westchester, where many households pay $35,000 to $45,000 in combined state and local taxes, that cap was expensive.

It has changed. For 2026, the cap sits at $40,400. It begins phasing down only for households earning above $505,000. 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, capped at $10,000 in deductions for years, can now deduct most of its tax bill again. Depending on income and bracket, that is worth thousands of dollars a year. Real money, on a clock.

Now the politics, told straight. The seat that helps decide whether this survives past 2029 is New York's 17th congressional district, covering much of northern Westchester. Representative Mike Lawler built much of his record on raising the cap and will run on it. Last week, Cait Conley won the Democratic primary and will challenge him in November. Both will tell you they are the one protecting your deduction.

Why it matters: 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 this fight has a local name on the ballot.

Listen to the full story on The Westchester Brief, wherever you get your podcasts.

Quick Hits

A bioscience anchor lands in Rye. The New York Blood Center opened a new campus of about 187,000 square feet on Midland Avenue, consolidating blood collection, processing, cell-therapy manufacturing, and life-sciences research under one roof. It is a concrete sign of the county's push to grow a bioscience corridor, and the jobs that come with it.

The housing money clock is running. Applications for Housing Flex Fund II, $25 million in gap financing for stalled affordable projects, are open through August 21, with priority for transit-adjacent sites. Disbursements are expected in early 2027.

One more thing. A quick gut check: do you actually know what you paid in state and local taxes last year? Most homeowners do not, and the SALT change makes that number suddenly worth finding. Pull your last return before you file next.

Listen to The Westchester Brief daily on all podcast platforms.
Visit: www.iliveheremedia.com
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @iliveheremedia
Don't miss an episode. Forward this to a neighbor and ask them to subscribe.