Republicans Set To Accept Democrats Surrender On Taxes

It's all over but the shouting and there will be shouting from the left.

A day after the Senate rejected President Obama’s preferred tax plan, officials said the broad contours of a compromise were in focus.

Rather than extending the tax rates only on income described by Democrats as middle class — up to $250,000 a year for couples and $200,000 for individuals — the deal would also keep the rates for higher earners, probably for two years. In return, Republicans said they would probably agree to extend jobless aid for the long-term unemployed.

Senior Democrats on Sunday said that they were resigned to defeat in the highly charged tax debate, and they voiced dismay.

I would have like to have seen the Republicans force spending offsets if they were going to vote for the unemployment extension but despite appearances, they aren't in charge of either house of Congress just yet. It was going to be hard for them to force Democrats to do it that way, so in the end they pretty much gave up nothing for a major win.

Jake Tapper had some quality snark on how big a retreat extending the tax cuts represents for Obama.

In addition to extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, President Obama has agreed to re-invade Iraq

The left is going to freak about this. What's not to love?

It also gives some 'reporters' a chance to show off their bias and economic illiteracy in one tidy package.

Behold NBC's First Read's take.

And get this: Extending the Bush tax cuts, jobless benefits, and other tax cuts for two years will likely cost more than the stimulus did…

No, No, a thousand times NO...letting people keep their own money does not 'cost' anything. The only element of the package that costs money is extending unemployment benefits, which the Democrats are all for.

Now, the Republicans have offered any spending cuts to make up for the revenue the government expected to collect from the Obama tax hike but they aren't in the majority (yet) are they? The Democrats haven't even passed a budget for the current fiscal year, so the only way you can assume that the government is losing expected revenue is if you buy into the idea that the federal budget is always and forever on a one-way, auto-pilot trip to greater spending. That's fair enough since that's been the case for decades but the GOP is going to need to start trying to change that. We'll see.

posted by DrewM. at 12:17 PM

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