There is a company that has been calling sales tax legislation a new tax law in their attempt to get new clients. No such new sales tax law was ever signed. Sales tax has been deductible as part of itemizing deductions for several years, but it had to be renewed every year. The law that was signed simply made the deduction permanent, rather than renewable every year.
When you take the deduction, you receive an amount for your filing status, people in your household, and state where you live. This amount comes from a table provided by the IRS and includes all your daily expenses. To that base, you can add large items such as cars, etc..
You only benefit from this is you are itemizing all your deductions. You don't get to take the standard deduction and then add this to it. In other words, the deduction is exactly the same as it always was.
