Shirley: GOP Got Snookered on Taxes

Not every conservative is happy about the tax deal Republican congressional leaders negotiated with the White House. Indeed, the GOP got fleeced, Craig Shirley, head of conservative Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, writes on Politico.

“The Republicans had their pants taken off by Obama, and they don’t even know it,” he argues. “Rather than making the marginal rates permanent (or even lower), they left themselves to fight again over the same terrain in two years, rather than mounting an offensive campaign to continually lower the rates. Even a mediocre commander would tell you that you shouldn’t have to fight for the same terrain twice.”

Shirley’s also not too happy with the estate tax compromise. “Why would the Republicans allow the argument that the Steinbrenner family paid exactly zero in death taxes and yet the rest of us will have to pay 35 percent beginning Jan. 1? Is George Steinbrenner that special, even in death?”