Coming away from the chaotic middle-of-the-night approval of a sprawling House bill with agreement on a widely controversial budget, at least Long Island members of Congress and some of their New York colleagues get to cite a significant development on restoring state and local tax deductions.

The bill to be taken up by the Senate lifts the limit on SALT deductions, imposed to punish blue states nearly eight years ago during the first Trump administration, from $10,000 to $40,000 per household, for those with incomes up to $500,000. So that the wealthy don’t benefit disproportionately — there will be plenty else for them in the GOP tax package — the cap phases back down to $10,000 for incomes of $600,000 and more.

The bottom line is certainly positive for those Long Islanders whose incomes have been trimmed for years by this unprecedented double taxation from the federal government and the localities. Early estimates are that most income tax filers in Nassau and Suffolk counties stand to get a break from the legislation. But as with any rushed process, whether in Albany or Washington, fine print remains to be read and parsed.

The fight to fully restore SALT began years ago with Democrats, particularly Rep. Tom Suozzi, who got three bills passed in the House to blast the cap, only to see them fail in the Senate. SALT was a centerpiece of Suozzi’s special election campaign in 2024; that launched fixing SALT as a priority in local House races in the general election later that year. Democrat Laura Gillen did her share but with a Republican majority, New York GOP members Andrew Garbarino, Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler were out front every day hacking away at the opposition.

The House didn’t produce a full repeal of the cap as many hoped. And the blame there falls on President Donald Trump, who promised several times, including at a rally in Nassau County, to “get SALT back,” but then undercut the SALT GOPers at a caucus meeting earlier this week, ending any chance of a full repeal.

In a brief Zoom news conference Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has supported full repeal but never was able to get Suozzi’s bills passed when Democrats controlled the Senate, acknowledged in responding to a Newsday reporter’s question that the SALT deal is “better than it was before” despite his condemning the potential impact of the broader bill.

Looking ahead, the higher SALT cap surely helps — but it doesn’t relieve the state and localities of the need to find new ways to reduce their own governance costs while federal programs are cut. Doing so remains as necessary as ever for a state where high taxes burden middle-class workers and where higher income earners are leaving.

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