CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday he can't see any lawmaker from high-tax states voting for President Donald Trump's tax plan if it eliminates the deduction for state and local taxes.
"If you're from one of these high-tax states and you're Republican, it's almost inconceivable that you would vote for this without being thrown out," the host of CNBC's "Mad Money" said.
The GOP's sweeping tax reform plan also calls for cutting personal and corporate tax rates and aims to simplify the tax code. Provisions include collapsing the current seven personal tax brackets to just three: 12, 25, and 35 percent and nearly doubling the standard deduction.
Part of the money to fund the tax breaks would come from removal of the deductions for state and local taxes.
"If you do a higher tax rate, and you get rid of these deductions, then you may think this is bad for the poor and [a] big windfall for the rich. The taxes go up so dramatically that I cannot believe anybody in these higher tax states could risk voting for this — Republican or Democrat," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street."
Earlier Thursday, White House economic advisor Gary Cohn told CNBC the proposal to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent is not negotiable, although the administration wanted to reduce it even more. He said the tax overhaul can be paid for by economic growth.
Cramer said he would have preferred simply lowering the corporate tax rate and allowing companies to bring back their hordes of cash that have been stashed overseas to avoid higher U.S. taxes. "Yes, when you cut taxes it does spur growth, but that's really kind of all we have," Cramer said.