Joe Manchin just gave New Jersey Democrats a devastating kick in the throat – politically speaking.

If Build Back Better doesn’t pass as is – and Manchin’s plans to vote “no ” will doom it – relief from the SALT cap will die with it.

The now famous, or infamous, SALT cap emerged out of the 2017 Trump tax reform package. It limits the federal deduction for state and local taxes (hence SALT) to $10,000. It had been unlimited.

In a state where many middle class homeowners pay more than $10,000 annually in property taxes alone, this increases the amount of tax they pay to Washington.

The cap had an immediate political benefit for Democrats, who ran against the cap in 2018 and “flipped” four House seats. (One of them flipped back when Jeff Van Drew changed parties).

Running against the cap was one thing, doing something about it quite another.

Democrats certainly tried. The House voted to repeal the cap two years ago, but not surprisingly, it went nowhere in the GOP-controlled Senate.

But now Democrats control the Senate and Joe Biden is the president. This, logically, raised hopes that the cap would go. Keep in mind, this is a bipartisan goal. Most New Jersey Republicans also oppose the $10,000 cap.

The Build Back Better bill, which includes many initiatives to help seniors and families with children, also would raise the $10,000 cap to $80,000, which would cover virtually all New Jersey homeowners.

But now all bets are off with Manchin’s rejection of the bill.

The political implications for House Democrats in competitive districts can’t be overstated.

In short. Dems said they wanted to – they needed to – get rid of the SALT cap. But they may not do it.

I know all about the nuances.

The Democratic House “eliminated” the cap in 2019, but the Senate refused to go along. That’s not the fault of the Dems.

Nor is it the fault of Josh Gottheimer, Tom Malinowski and Mikie Sherrill that Manchin is refusing to support his colleagues.

But politics is not fair.

Aside from political junkies and partisans, many people don’t pay attention to the so-called sausage-making of laws.They just look at the bottom line.

As of now, that bottom line looks like it’s going to still include the $10,000 cap, which is something Republicans are bound to remind voters during next year’s midterm election.

No matter the reason, if the political party that controls government can’t deliver, that’s a problem at election time.

Manchin’s comments were made Sunday, so they’re still reverberating today. What happens now with the SALT cap, or for that matter, other elements of Build Back Better, is anybody’s guess. There are no easy answers.

Condemning Joe Manchin as a traitor to the Democratic cause is understandable, but solves nothing.

The following is a statement from Sherrill:

“Having passed SALT relief through the House four times, I remain as committed as ever to finding a path through the Senate for this and other New Jersey priorities.”