deficits to continue breaking records

[Riot]

That's an interesting opinion piece, but I haven't seen that opinion shared by many. Making a contention about absolute amounts then segueing into percent of GDP as one's support is a bit of a straw man IMO.

Here's some more on what Congress might be thinking of regarding the tax cuts.

Republican leaders have opposed much smaller spending bills that would add to the national debt — most recently a $34 billion extension of unemployment benefits, approved by Congress on Thursday. But they endorse more federal borrowing to make all the tax cuts permanent.

The tax cuts were enacted in 2001 and 2003 after Bush made them the centerpiece of his election campaign. They provided help for rich and poor alike, reducing the lowest marginal rates as well as the top ones and several in between. They provided a wide range of income tax breaks for education, families with children and married couples.

Taxes on capital gains and dividends were reduced, while the federal estate tax was gradually repealed, though only for this year.

Obama wants to make the tax cuts permanent for middle- and lower-income taxpayers, allowing the top rates to increase next year for individuals making more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000.

Obama's plan would cost $2.5 trillion over the next decade, including the cost of an annual fix that spares the middle class from being hit with the Alternative Minimum — a hit of about $3,700 a year.

It would cost $2.9 trillion over the next decade to extend all the tax cuts, including AMT relief, according to estimates from the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., first raised the possibility of a temporary extension during a speech in June about the budget deficit. In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., favors a permanent extension of the middle-class tax cuts, but the issue is not settled.

Finance Committee Democrats circulated a proposal Thursday that would let tax cuts for the wealthy expire next year while permanently extending the middle-class tax cuts. It would patch the AMT for two years and extend the estate tax for two years with a top rate of 45 percent. The cost: $1.55 trillion over the next decade.

Committee members met behind closed doors for more than hour Thursday to discuss the tax cuts. Afterward, Baucus said no decisions had been make.

Some rank-and-file Democrats are arguing to extend all the tax cuts, including those for high earners, for a year or two, until the economy recovers. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday she won't consider extending the tax cuts for the wealthy.

[clyde]

^^^^"Be a peckerwood with your word. Speak with a muzzle."

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Riot

That's an interesting opinion piece, but I haven't seen that opinion shared by many. Making a contention about absolute amounts then segueing into percent of GDP as one's support is a bit of a straw man IMO.

Here's some more on what Congress might be thinking of regarding the tax cuts.

what about bernanke's statements, and greenspan conceding that allowing the cuts to expire would slow growth?

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

what about bernanke's statements, and greenspan conceding that allowing the cuts to expire would slow growth?

They are far smarter than I am about it.

[clyde]

Get Quiet!! something good to drink--quick!

[Danzig]

here's the main issue...if the tax cuts are just allowed to expire, they don't just raise the tax rate on the rich. they raise them on everyone. so, when obama says just let them expire, which is his plan, he's advocating a huge tax increase on the poor and the middle class, not just the wealthy as he would have you believe. and that's why many democrats are speaking out against the plan, they don't want across the board increases.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38400016...new_york_times

Epic battle looms in Washington over expiring Bush tax cuts
Fight to serve as proxy for bigger political clashes

From both political and policy perspectives, the tax issue is dizzyingly complex, and even some of Washington’s most grizzled legislative operatives say they cannot predict the outcome.

Some liberals want Mr. Obama to keep his promise to raise taxes on the rich, and the White House’s budget forecasts rely heavily on rolling the top income tax rates back to their pre-2001 levels. Some fiscal hawks warn that extending the tax cuts would add more than $2 trillion to the federal budget deficits at a time when the national debt is becoming an economic concern and a political issue. Political economists are fiercely divided.


The issue is further complicated by the rising concern among voters about the federal deficit, which would be increased by roughly $1.5 trillion over 10 years just by continuing the tax breaks for the middle class. Many economists say the nation’s debt load is already headed to risky levels.

But some lawmakers, including Mr. Wyden, say the deficit concerns and the attention on the debt commission could help forge a deal: a short-term continuation of the tax cuts for the middle class, and perhaps some new tax breaks for businesses, that would buy lawmakers time to undertake a broad overhaul of the tax code in the next Congress.

[clyde]

Danny..please.



This thread has been destroyed.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

here's the main issue...if the tax cuts are just allowed to expire, they don't just raise the tax rate on the rich. they raise them on everyone. so, when obama says just let them expire, which is his plan, he's advocating a huge tax increase on the poor and the middle class, not just the wealthy as he would have you believe. .

No, Obama's recommendation is to let the tax cuts on the wealthiest expire (the top 2-3%) - which is Bernanke & Geithners recommendation, too - and to extend the tax cuts for everyone else.

What Congress will end up doing we'll have to see.

[Danzig]

it's going to be rather tricky for them to extend some, while cutting others. the whole thing has to be settled somehow. we're in quite a pickle. i'm not quite sure how they're going to reconcile this. or how they can add to the deficit while keeping tax cuts for some. or how they can chance stalling any gains by eliminating tax cuts that could affect small business.

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by Riot

No, Obama's recommendation is to let the tax cuts on the wealthiest expire (the top 2-3%) - which is Bernanke & Geithners recommendation, too - and to extend the tax cuts for everyone else.

This is also called the redistribution of wealth.

[gales0678]

[quote=Riot;673822] No, Obama's recommendation is to let the tax cuts on the wealthiest expire (the top 2-3%) - which is Bernanke & Geithners recommendation, too - and to extend the tax cuts for everyone else.

What Congress will end up doing we'll have to see.[/QUOTE]



my guess is that all the rates on personal income levels will go up