Tax battle: The Democrats’ risky tactic
Republicans and Democrats in Congress disagree on how to handle the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts.
Democrats are learning to love the “fiscal cliff,” said Steve Kornacki in Salon.com. The Bush-era tax cuts will expire on Dec. 31 unless Congress acts. Republicans want the cuts to be made permanent, while President Obama wants the richest Americans to pay more. The chances of a deal are slim, but Democrats are beginning to realize that “they have the stronger hand.” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said last week that her party might embrace a tactic that begins with letting all the tax cuts expire. That “nuclear option” may in fact be “our best hope” for arriving at sensible compromise, said Bill Keller in The New York Times. It would almost certainly force the Republicans, at the beginning of next year, to join Democrats in retroactively restoring tax cuts for all but the richest 2 percent of Americans—and they wouldn’t have to breach their no-tax pledge to do it, since they’d effectively be cutting taxes. The question is whether Democrats have the sangfroid to “dig in their heels and do nothing.”
Surely they aren’t that foolish, said The Wall Street Journal in an editorial. Letting all the Bush tax cuts expire would suck $400 billion out of taxpayers’ pockets, and that prospect alone would push the economy “close to recession territory.” Voters recognize this as partisan gamesmanship, and they won’t reward Democrats for being “willing to toy with recession to win an election.” That’s why Obama should distance himself from “leftist dead-enders” like Murray, said Michael Medved in TheDailyBeast.com, and instead broker a deal with Republicans to avert “Taxmageddon.” Showing bold leadership to protect taxpayers from fiscal crisis is surely a better electoral strategy than threatening to capsize the economy to “score ideological points.”
But Republicans “don’t seem interested in bargaining,” said the Los Angeles Times. Their solution for the fiscal cliff is to pass partisan bills that cut Democratic priorities in order to fund Republican ones. Now the Democrats are trying to beat them at their own game. The danger here is that lawmakers will “spend the rest of the year posturing” instead of hammering out a deal. Inaction would “impose five months of tax uncertainty” on the nation, said Jac Wilder VerSteeg in the Palm Beach, Fla., Post, slowing our economic growth and risking another bond-rating downgrade. Members of both parties should be running away from the cliff and toward a compromise. “Any who don’t have less sense than lemmings.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
The hunt for Planet Nine
Under The Radar Researchers seeking the elusive Earth-like planet beyond Neptune are narrowing down their search
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Magazine interactive crossword - April 26, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - April 26, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Magazine solutions - April 26, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - April 26, 2024
By The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published