The Republican-led Senate advanced legislation Wednesday to overrule part of the District of Columbia’s tax code, preventing city residents from claiming tax provisions in President Donald Trump’s 2025 tax law.
The upper chamber advanced the measure, led by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), in a party-line vote of 51-46, setting it up for eventual final passage after it cleared the GOP-controlled House last week. Only a simple majority in the Senate was needed.
The measure would repeal a portion of a Washington budget law passed last year that blocked residents from obtaining various tax cuts etched into Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act by Republicans, including no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, a car loan interest deduction for qualifying vehicles, and a senior tax deduction.
The D.C. Council moved to boost the city’s tax revenue and fund local programs, such as child tax credits. Other states have followed Washington’s lead in not implementing portions of the Trump tax law, known as “decoupling” from federal policies, but Congress maintains special oversight over the nation’s capital to force its hand.
Republicans argued that preventing district residents from claiming the federal tax breaks “defies logic,” while Democrats and local officials say the repeal further erodes the city’s autonomy and could complicate the tax-filing season that’s already underway.
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“It is absolutely absurd that self-interested D.C. bureaucrats would deliberately deny families and businesses from saving their own, hard-earned dollars,” Scott said in a recent statement. “Government’s top priority should be serving families, not benefiting off them.”
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Washington’s nonvoting representative, condemned the GOP measure as “administrative and fiscal sabotage” of the city, citing concerns from the district’s chief financial officer that the changes could cause monthslong tax return delays or require refiling.