‘It’s Trillions of Dollars’: CNBC Host Grills House Republican On How GOP Will Pay For Trump’s Tax Plan Shortfall

Squawk Box co-host Joe Kernen grilled House Ways And Means Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO) on Monday over the additional deficit spending that would be created by former President Donald Trump’s tax plans.

Kernen asked, “How would you pay for extending the tax cuts and getting rid of the SALT cap?”

“We’re gonna have to look at everything. I think whenever you’re looking,” replied Smith as Kernen cut back in, “That’s a big number though, is it not? What? What would the number be if you got rid of the SALT cap and you extended the tax cuts? It’s trillions of dollars, isn’t it? Over ten years?”

Smith replied, “It’s about 900 billion over ten years. Is the SALT cap elimination. You’re looking at $4.6 trillion worth of unpaid for tax expirations that we have to address. So we have to look at everything. Everything is on the table.”

“You think tariffs can pay for that?” Kernen hit back with a scoff.

“I think we’re going to have to look at absolutely everything. There’s not one thing that can pay for $4.6 trillion,” Smith said as Kernen insisted, “Like what, though? Do Republicans, are you willing to raise taxes anywhere?”

“Well, I think there’s hundreds of billions of dollars out there that the administration has tried to use for student loans. I also believe if you codify various aspects of the 301 tariffs that can raise a lot of money in the hundreds of billions of dollars. There’s multiple things to look at. I also believe there are some deductions that we should be getting rid of that are out there that are not necessary. We need a flatter, fairer rate,” Smith replied.

“What kind of deductions do you want to get rid of?” Kerner pressed.

“Well, for one, SALT is going to be in the middle of the road. The president’s called for us to address salt. There will be a cap on SALT. They’re not going to be limited. There will be a cap on SALT because there is no way in a Republican House of Representatives that you can pass an unlimited SALT deduction,’ Smith replied.

Former President Donald Trump vowed recently to remove the SALT, State And Local Tax, deduction cap that he put in place in 2017. Democrats have long been in favor of removing the cap, which is viewed as overwhelmingly punishing wealthy Americans who live in high-tax blue states.

Watch the clip above via CNBC.