Congressional aides enumerate reasons why the Bush tax cuts are not playing more of a role in the current debt limit debate, according to a
report by thehill.com.
• Last year’s tax cut compromise means those cuts don’t expire again until the end of 2012 – after both parties clash for control of the Presidency and both chambers of Congress.
• The next real skirmishing for the Bush tax cuts will be all about 2012 -- illustrating Washington’s penchant to take hard decisions down to the wire.
Some Democrats, however, caution that their party should not punt on the Bush tax cuts until the end of next year, when they are once more set to expire.
“The tax breaks for the best off, the extension of the Bush breaks, needs to be a front-and-center part of the conversation,” says
Sen. Jeff Merkley D-Ore.
Meanwhile, Republicans continue to call for permanently keeping the Bush cuts, arguing it would hurt small businesses to let rates rise at the highest levels. And Democratic lawmakers are having a mixed reaction to a tax discussion that currently is focused more on corporate jets than the Bush tax cuts.
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