Community | December 06, 2010 | 7 comments

Obama reaches deal with Republicans over tax cuts

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11933043

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littlwarrior
US President Barack Obama has announced a bipartisan agreement has been reached to extend soon-to-expire Bush era tax cuts to all Americans.

Referring to the bitter wrangling over the issue, Mr Obama said he would not "let working families become collateral damage for political warfare".

Some Democrats have said the deal, which must be voted on by Congress, is too generous to the wealthy.

Unemployment benefits will also be renewed under the agreement.

The BBC's Steve Kingstone, in Washington, says the deal represents a climb-down by President Obama.

It marks a reversal of his position, first laid out in his 2008 campaign, that tax cuts should only be extended at incomes up to $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.

Following November's mid-term elections, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives and increased their power in the Senate.

Mr Obama's announcement came two days after the US Senate rejected President Obama's preferred tax plan.

Elements of the framework deal include:

A two-year extension of income tax cuts for all Americans enacted in 2001 and 2003 under former President Bush
A 13-month extension of unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed
A 35% tax for two years on estates worth more than $5m
A Social Security tax cut that would see the tax drop from 6.2% of pay to 4.2% for one year
Allowing businesses to write off all their capital investments for tax purposes during 2011
Extending the Earned Income Tax Credit, the child tax credit and tuition credits

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11933043
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    Obama,  Tax Cuts,  Bipartisanship
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7 comments // Obama reaches deal with Republicans over tax cuts

  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  

    • it looks as if he is playing it like "ill give tax cuts to who i want, and ill let you give tax cuts to who you want to", and when the shit falls apart, we can discuss appropriate tax policy, not political point scoring agendas.

    • 1 year ago
  • joeeddy
    • 0
      joeeddy  

    • This is not good for middle income earners. Smoke and mirrors. Who is going to pay for 2 more years of tax breaks for the rich? AT 700+mil per year. Money we borrow from China. The middle Class "you betch ya". Nancy P in the house is the only hope left. He should let them expire. Give the unemployed money from the stimulus. Then put a new tax break for the middle class as his own. Damn Him.

    • 1 year ago
  • timetide
  • littlwarrior
    • +2
      littlwarrior  

    • I understand why he would want to reach an agreement before the old tax cuts expire but if we are going to start working on this massive debt that the bush era left us we are going to need to hike sombody's taxes here soon.

    • 1 year ago
  • freecrack
  • littlwarrior
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • littlwarrior:

      maybe im not estute enough, but i think obama today, for the first time ever, as president called them out for that bullshit play.
      wether or not it will work who knows, but it felt awesome to see

    • 1 year ago
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