# Plain Language Summary of the SALT Act

This bill makes two major changes: it adjusts how much wealthy people can deduct from their taxes for state and local taxes they pay, and it expands Medicare to cover hearing aids and hearing care services for seniors.

On the tax side, the bill modifies rules that currently limit how much anyone can deduct for state and local taxes (often called SALT deductions). Right now, there's a $10,000 annual cap on these deductions for everyone. This bill would allow people earning less than $400,000 per year to deduct more of their state and local taxes, with the deduction gradually shrinking as income increases above that threshold. However, if you're a billionaire with over $1 billion in assets, you wouldn't get any of these deductions at all. The money saved from these tax changes would go directly to Medicare to help pay for the new hearing and vision benefits.

The hearing care expansion is significant for Medicare beneficiaries. Starting in 2025, Medicare would cover hearing aids for seniors diagnosed with moderate to severe hearing loss, which it currently doesn't do. The bill also expands coverage for audiology services—things like hearing tests and rehabilitation—and allows qualified hearing aid professionals (like hearing aid dispensers) to provide these services in addition to audiologists. Medicare would cover 80 percent of the cost for these services. Seniors could get one new hearing aid per ear every five years, and they'd need a prescription from a doctor or audiologist to get one. This addresses a major gap in Medicare coverage, since hearing loss affects millions of older Americans but has been largely uncovered until now.

SALT Act

Porter, Katie

Supporting Americans with Lower Taxes Act or the SALT Act This bill modifies the cap on state and local tax deductions (the SALT deduction) and provides for Medicare coverage of hearing and vision services. Current law caps the SALT deduction at $10,000 for single taxpayers and married couples filing jointly and $5,000 for married taxpayers filing separately; the cap applies to tax years 2018 through 2025. The bill permanently (1) eliminates any cap for single taxpayers or married couples filing jointly who make less than $400,000 a year ($200,000 for married taxpayers filing separately); (2) increases the cap to $60,000 for single taxpayers or married couples filing jointly who make $400,000 or more a year ($30,000 for married taxpayers filing separately who make $200,000 or more a year); and (3) phases down the cap for filers who make more than $400,000 in a manner such that those who make $1 million or more do not qualify for the deduction. The bill also provides for Medicare coverage of hearing and vision services, including hearing aids, glasses, and contact lenses, beginning in 2025. It also appropriates any amounts received as a result of the bill's changes to the SALT cap to Medicare's Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund and provides for specific fund transfers for FY2024 and FY2025 to support Medicare hearing and vision coverage.