President-elect Donald Trump has thrown his support behind efforts to abolish New York City’s congestion pricing and raise the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions, according to Republican lawmakers who met with him over the weekend speaking to the New York Post.

In a Saturday evening meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, members of New York’s Republican congressional delegation said the incoming president expressed strong opposition to the city’s newly implemented congestion tax and voiced support for providing SALT relief for New Yorkers.

“He wants to kill it,” Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told The Post, referring to the congestion pricing plan.

“He did agree it’s got to go,” added Rep. Mike Lawler (NY-17), who also attended the meeting. “So we’re going to work through how his administration can do so.”

Trump, 78, also endorsed the delegation’s push to raise the SALT cap, which currently limits the amount of state and local taxes residents can deduct from their federal taxes to $10,000.

“He’s fully on board with lifting the cap on SALT,” Lawler said. “The president reiterated his support for lifting the cap on SALT and talking to us about the need to come up with a number and work through it and build consensus in the House.”

Malliotakis said Trump was sympathetic to New Yorkers, accusing city and state officials of treating taxpayers like “ATMs.”

“He said that he understands the plight of New Yorkers who are being abused by our mayor and our governor, and he wants to provide SALT relief,” she said. “We need to work out what that number is going to be.”

New York Republicans acknowledged that fully lifting the SALT cap might be unlikely but are advocating for an increase as part of a legislative package that could also renew provisions of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

The meeting came a week after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) began charging a phased-in $15 toll for vehicles entering Manhattan below 60th Street. The program, the first of its kind in the United States, faced a series of legal challenges before a federal judge allowed it to proceed earlier this month.

Malliotakis and other members of the delegation expressed optimism that the Federal Highway Administration, under Trump’s leadership, could revoke the program’s authorization.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)