Obama To Announce Tax Deal

Above the post update:

Obama is speaking now. He's saying that it's a victory because the GOP wanted permanent cuts. I'm kind of meh on that. Yes, it complicates some planning but in realty no tax rate is ever "permanent". "Permanent" rates have gone up and down before. It's a bit more uncertain but mostly in name. Also, having a fight about raising taxes or not just before elections isn't a bad thing for Republicans.

Obama says he's sympathetic to those in his party who wanted to fight but he's about making tough choices or something. Triangulation baby.

One downside...the Earned Income Tax credit survived. I would love to see that go away but I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon.

Obama is "confident" that if he speaks to the nation over the next two years, he will convince Americans that tax rates should go up on the wealthiest. Yeah, because he never tried to do that for the 2 years he was running or the 2 years he's been President. One more speech, it's always one more speech with these guys.

Raising these taxes was at the top of the Obama agenda since he started running for President (he said so in this talk) and now he's caved. Not sure if that's part of Hope or Change.

Obama says he will spend next year focusing on the recovery. Just like he did before (remember "laser like focus on jobs"?) and then spent the year on...health care.

Bottom line...Obama got rolled. Now he gets to fight the left and the Democrats in Congress (birm). Heh.

Original Post:
Presidential statement coming at 6:10 est. (Update: Time has been moved back, unknown what time it will happen. Update 2: Are House Dems balking?)

Seems like he got his lunch handed to him.

President Barack Obama presented congressional Democratic leaders Monday with a proposed deal with Republicans that would extend Bush-era tax cuts for two years and unemployment benefits for 13 months while also setting the estate tax at 35% for two years on inheritances worth more than $5 million, a senior Democratic source told CNN.

The deal also includes a temporary 2% reduction in the payroll tax to replace Obama's "making work pay" tax credit from the 2009 economic stimulus package for lower-income Americans, the senior Democratic source said.

Wait, we get the current tax levels and a payroll break? Let the triangulation begin!

I know people are going to be unhappy about the unemployment extension but Phil Klein makes the point I made this morning...it was going to happen anyway.

On the tax deal, Ezra Klein tries to put a happy, liberal spin on it.

In other words, rather than paring the tax cuts and the deficit back, they're making both larger. If you're of the mind that the economy needs all the extra help it can get right now -- and you should be -- this is a lot more extra help than anyone expected Republicans and Democrats would agree to give it. And from a political perspective, if you believe that what matters for elections is the economy -- and you should -- then it's worth it for the White House to lose news cycles in 2010 if it means adding jobs by 2012.

Lower taxes mean job creation? Welcome to the conservative movement.

This is going to drive the left off the edge. Raising taxes was a big part of the Obama campaign and a lot of Democrats ran and lost on it last month. Now Obama is cutting it adrift. The Democrats bet hanging tough on tax increases would motivate the base in November more than cutting a deal would win them independent votes. Congrats on getting the worst of all worlds.

Oh and the Democrats agreed to a 2 year extension? Sign me up for having this argument every election cycle. It's a winner for us.

The Republicans haven't even taken over yet and they are racking up a big win.

Now, they need to stand firm on any other crap Reid and Pelosi try to ram through in the next two weeks.

Added: On the Death Tax, I'd prefer it be 0% but it was scheduled to be 55%, so 35% is an improvement. It's also the GOP position, far lower than the Democratic plan.

Bernie Sanders (Socialist-VT) is on MSNBC is going nuts, hints he will mount filibuster. Oh my this is delicious.

posted by DrewM. at 05:48 PM

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