President Obama said today: "I am not going to ask students and seniors and middle-class families to pay down the entire deficit while people like me, making over $250,000, aren't asked to pay a dime more in taxes . . .while there may be disagreement in Congress over whether or not to raise taxes on folks making over $250,000 a year, nobody -- not Republicans, not Democrats -- want taxes to go up for folks making under $250,000 a year."Everyone is talking about the "fiscal cliff." Well the President today made clear that the solution is to deal with both sides of the ledger--revenue and expenditures. The Republicans will be making a BIG mistake if they don't engage with the President. The fiscal problem cannot be solved by cutting expenditures alone--no respected economist has recommended that. At the same time, too many rich people (like Mitt Romney) are paying tax rates of LESS than 15%--give me a break! Message to Congress: either engage in full tax reform (see Simpson-Bowles) or give the President what he advocates.
Bush tax cuts remain fiscal cliff crucible - Nov. 9, 2012: "The crux of the controversy is whether to extend the portion of the Bush tax cuts that apply to income over $200,000 ($250,000 for those who are married). If they were allowed to expire as scheduled on Dec. 31, the top two income tax rates would increase to 36% and 39.6% next year, up from 33% and 35% this year. Investment tax rates would rise too from their current level of 15%. Obama and Senate Democrats want to let them expire. Boehner and House Republicans want to extend them.
