News & Updates

Put the millionaires’ tax money to good use

9.2.2010-The Washington Post

With the economy downshifting into first gear and their poll numbers sagging, the White House and Democratic congressional leaders are desperate for an economic and political game-changer as they head into the November elections. As it happens, there’s one close at hand: the expiration of the “Bush” tax cuts at the end of the year.

In this instance, the politics of obstructionism appear to work in the Democrats’ favor. If Republicans follow through on their threat to use Senate rules to block a vote on President Obama’s proposal to extend tax cuts for households with incomes below $250,000, then the Bush tax cuts will automatically expire for everyone. At that point, Republicans will have a heap of explaining to do – not only about raising taxes and sacrificing the interests of the middle class to those of the rich but also about forgoing $700 billion in revenue over the next decade that could be used for deficit reduction. That, in a nutshell, is the Democratic strategy.

The only problem with that strategy is that there are some Democratic wusses who are so scared about the prospect of losing their seats by voting for a tax increase on the rich that they are pushing the White House and congressional leaders to put off the issue until after the election, during the expected lame-duck session. Otherwise, they warn, they may be forced to vote with Republicans for a tax-cut extension for everyone. That would put President Obama in the uncomfortable position of either vetoing the bill and triggering an automatic tax increase, or letting it become law and accepting a humiliating political defeat. That is what passes for the Republican strategy.

Click here to read more at The Washington Post.