The Bush tax cuts had an expiration date, shrewdly put in. Almost as if designed to give the GOP something to campaign on in 2010. Now the Democrats have a vast majority in the House and Senate, and the're less than a month away from that majority being severely slimmed or lost altogether.
Tax rates will go up for everyone if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire. It would seem like a no-brainer to extend the current tax rates in these tumultuous economic times where unemployment just went back up to 10.1% and home values are still way down. But the usual partisan gridlock-games seem to be in effect. The Democrats say they want to extend the rates for those families making $250,000 or less a year, roughly 98% of Americans. Republicans want them extended for everyone.
My suggestion to the Democrats would be to put them up for separate votes. I don't know why this is hard. But the closer we get to the end of the year, the more the creepy feeling kicks in that the tax cuts will expire, the rates will go up for everyone, and the parties will just blame each other for it.
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