Fight Erupts to Shield Tax Breaks Threatened by G.O.P. Overhaul (INCL.: RE-IND. WANTS TO AXE STD. DED. INCREASE TO KEEP MI-DED. ATTRACTIVE(!))

The deduction is a key incentive for people to buy homes, since it reduces their taxable income by the amount of interest paid on a mortgage. Real estate agents worry that doubling the standard deduction may provide a richer tax break than itemizing and claiming the mortgage deduction.

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A proposal to limit the deductibility of corporate interest has prompted jockeying among powerful groups that rely on debt to help finance their operations, including real estate companies, private equity firms, financial companies and other businesses.

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The most politically fraught proposal is eliminating the state and local tax deduction, which allows taxpayers who itemize to write off their property, state and local taxes. The measure is particularly prized in blue states with high property taxes, but is also widely used in some Republican districts in Virginia, New Jersey and California.

Eliminating the deduction, which the real estate industry also opposes, would save more than $1 trillion over a decade and make room for the tax cuts. But Republican members of Congress in affected states have already expressed concern about the provision, and a plan that repeals the deduction could be impossible to pass.

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For its part, the Trump administration is maintaining that surging economic growth produced by the tax cuts will prevent the plan from adding to the deficit, and that it will benefit middle-class families.

However, Mr. Trump's top economic adviser acknowledged in an interview with ABC News that it was too soon to make promises. It remains possible that some middle-class families could see their tax bills increase under the plan.

"There's an exception to every rule," said Gary D. Cohn, director of the National Economic Council. "I can't guarantee anything. You can always find a unique family somewhere."