Tax Cuts for Wealthy May Stay in Place for Now

With Democrats in Congress afraid to raise any taxes before the midterm elections in November, the Bush tax cuts may well remain in place for everyone, including those with income of more than $200,000 a year, Politico reports. Democrats might wait until after the election to deal with the big tax decisions. President Obama has called for extending the tax cuts only for individuals whose income totals less than $200,000.

But he hasn’t gone as far as threatening to veto a compromise bill that would continue the tax cuts for everyone temporarily.

His former budget director, Peter Orszag, presented a compromise proposal this week to give a temporary extension of the tax cuts for high-income earners. Top Republicans have indicated they would support such a measure.

Writing in The New York Times, Orszag suggested: “Ideally, only the middle-class tax cuts would be continued for now. Getting a deal in Congress, though, may require keeping the high-income tax cuts, too. And that would still be worth it.”