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More than six in 10 New Jersey voters Republicans, Democrats and independents alike favor removing the Republican tax laws $10,000 limit on deducting state and local taxes, according to a poll released Monday.

In the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll, registered voters favored removing the deduction cap by 63% to 24%. That included 64% of Republicans, 63% of Democrats and 60% of independents.

It would make sense for this to be a partisan issue, as its tied to Trump and to Democratic members of Congress, said Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University and executive director of the poll. But if theres one thing that can transcend partisanship, its cold, hard cash.

The cap disproportionately affected high tax states such as New Jersey, whose residents pay the highest property taxes. The deduction cap affects state taxes plus property taxes. The unpopularity of the tax law, which according to the Congressional Research Service had little or no impact on economic growth or workers pay, helped Democrats picked up four GOP-held House seats in New Jersey in 2018.

More than one-third of New Jersey voters, 35%, said their taxes went up because of the deduction cap, including 36% of Republicans, 34% of Democrats and 35% of independents. Another 28% said they received a tax cut and 30% said they didnt know the impact of the law on their federal taxes.

Before the 2017 tax law, more than 40% of New Jerseyans took the deduction, behind only Maryland and Connecticut, according to the Tax Foundation, a research group whose board includes two former House Republicans.

Should the deduction cap be repealed, the progressive Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy said 1.9 million New Jerseyans would be helped, 80% of them making $216,000 or less on average. But 72% of the benefits would go to the richest 5%, the study said.

The GOP tax law could be an issue again in 2022 as House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of California is coming to Warren on Wednesday to raise money for Tom Kean Jr., the state Senate minority leader who again is challenging Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-7th Dist. for re-election.

McCarthy led the effort to pass the bill, tried to make the deduction limit permanent, and then voted against efforts to repeal the cap.

A bipartisan caucus of lawmakers from New Jersey and elsewhere have pushed to remove the cap over the objection of McCarthy and other congressional Republican leaders. A draft resolutlon by Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., allowing the Senate to pass a $6 trillion spending bill by a simple majority included $120 billion to help restore the tax break.

The survey of 803 registered voters was conducted partially by telephone and partially online from June 9-16 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percentage points.

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @JDSalant.

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Republicans and Democrats in N.J. agree on this. Give back our property tax breaks. - NJ.com