http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/12/6/926049/-Tax-agreement-is-new-Wall-Street-bailoutust a quick refresher.
1. This is just what the Republicans planned.
The tax increases about to slide into effect are Republican increases written into law by Republican legislators. Those legislators thought it would be cute to pretend that they weren't screwing the budget by planting a bomb in the legislation. Now that bomb is going off. And they want to blame everyone else -- as usual.
2. The Democratic House bill offered a tax cut for every tax payer.
The bill is not a "middle class tax cut." The bill that has passed the House would not just give a cut to 95% of the populace -- no matter how many times the media says it, or how badly political leaders phrase it. The bill would provide a cut (a new cut, offsetting the Republican-engineered increase) to every taxpayer, regardless of income.
3. Republicans are holding the bill hostage for bonus bucks for billionaires.
What Republicans are arguing, and what President Obama has now agreed to, is that the wealthy need more cuts than everyone else. It's not that they were being left out. It's that this check wasn't big enough for the big money gang.
This is not a done deal. It should not be a done deal. If no deal is reached, it will be a universal Republican tax increase, written and orchestrated by the GOP. I refer you to the roll call vote in 2001. Mitch McConnell voted to raise taxes in 2010. So did Inhofe and Sessions and dozens of others now outraged that they are getting exactly what they voted for. Republicans should be begging to climb on board a tax cut for every American, not being handed fat checks from the Joe the Plumber Victory Fund.
Back when this legislation was passed at a time of budget surplus, Republicans predicted that (despite CBO contradiction) the tax cuts would -- here's a word the GOP now says with a sneer -- stimulate the economy, and that revenues would actually grow so much that the cuts would pay for themselves. They passed "pro-growth" cuts in 2001. And "tax stimulus cuts" in 2002. More "growth-oriented" cuts in 2003. And "tax simplification changes" in 2005. They probably would have passed even more, but by then they'd turned the surplus into the biggest deficit in history and were well on their way to tanking the economy.
More at the link ---
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