Posted on 12/31/2012 9:32:12 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
President Obama and Senate leaders struck a bipartisan agreement late Monday to let income taxes rise sharply for the first time in two decades, fulfilling Obama’s promise to raise taxes on the rich and avoiding the worst effects of the “fiscal cliff.”
The agreement, brokered by Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), primarily targets taxpayers who earn more than $450,000 per year, raising their rates for wages and investment profits. At the same time, the deal would protect more than 100 million households earning less than $250,000 a year from income tax increases that are scheduled to take effect this month.
The deal came together barely three hours before the midnight deadline, after negotiators cleared two final hurdles involving the estate tax and automatic spending cuts set to affect the Pentagon and other federal agencies this week.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.washingtonpost.com ...
Question for anyone...
I can’t recall why Republicans agreed TO CREATE this Fiscal Cliff nightmare last year.
Anyone have a summary or a good link?
I especially want to read quotes from Republicans who thought this was a great idea last year.
No.
The current congress ends January 3rd, 2013.
Here are the details of the deal:
likely to look like:
(Source: Reuters)
— Tax rates will permanently rise to Clinton-era levels for families with income above $450,000 and individuals above $400,000. All income below the threshold will permanently be taxed at Bush-era rates.
— The tax on capital gains and dividends will be permanently set at 20 percent for those with income above the $450,000/$400,000 threshold. It will remain at 15 percent for everyone else. (Clinton-era rates were 20 percent for capital gains and taxed dividends as ordinary income, with a top rate of 39.6 percent.)
— The estate tax will be set at 40 percent for those at the $450,000/$400,000 threshold, with a $5 million exemption. That threshold will be indexed to inflation, as a concession to Republicans and some Democrats in rural areas like Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mt.).
— The sequester will be delayed for two months. Half of the delay will be offset by discretionary cuts, split between defense and non-defense. The other half will be offset by revenue raised by the voluntary transfer of traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs, which would tax retirement savings when they’re moved over.
— The pay freeze on members of Congress and all other federal civilian employees, which Obama had lifted this week, will be re-imposed, .
— The 2009 expansion of tax breaks for low-income Americans will be extending, continuing a more generous Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit.
— The Alternative Minimum Tax will be permanently patched to avoid raising taxes on the middle-class.
— The deal will not address the debt-ceiling, and the payroll tax holiday will be allowed to expire.
— Two limits on tax exemptions and deductions for higher-income Americans will be reimposed: Personal Exemption Phaseout (PEP) will be set at $250,000 and the itemized deduction limitation (Pease) kicks in at $300,000.
—The full package of temporary business tax breaks — benefiting everything from R&D and wind energy to race-car track owners — will be extended for another year.
— Scheduled cuts to doctors under Medicare would be avoided for a year through spending cuts that haven’t been specified.
— Federal unemployment insurance will be extended for another year, benefiting those unemployed for longer than 26 weeks. This $30 billion provision won’t be offset.
— A nine-month farm bill fix will be attached to the deal, Sen. Debbie Stabenow told reporters, averting the newly dubbed milk cliff.
I think the hope was that Romney would be president, etc.
So why all the talk about going over the cliff tonight?
If they can just vote whenever, then what was the rush about midnight?
It was over raising the Debt Ceiling....
The dirty deals are done on holidays and in the middle of the night like our GOP and Democrat politicians did here in Pennsylvania back in 2005.
They raised the pay of judges, legislators etc. by some 16 percent during the July 4th holiday weekend.
The leaders get together, trade votes finding enough in each party to get the dirty deal passed.
Legislators who know we would throw them out are given protection by leadership (they get to vote NO and pretend to look good for the folks back home).
There will be lots of GOP guys who vote NO on the deal, but then continue to support their leaders like Boehner, Cantor, McConnell etc. etc.
Forget the phony deal that means nothing as spending continues to drive this country into the debt abyss.
Its time to tell the ones who vote NO on this and beat their chests claiming to be conservative they have to separate themselves from the business as usual GOP political leadership like Boehner.
Remove them from leadership of the GOP or put your words into action with a third party caucus in Congress not associated with the liberals who lead the GOP.
The house should have done it's duty and filed impeachment charges then and there on the spot.
What are the limits of statutes on Constitutional violations?
You can’t fight Santa Claus. You want all the republicans to lose in the next election?
Paul Ryan, Conservative, VP
Sarah Palin, Conservative, VP
Todd Akin, Conservative, Senate
Richard Mourdock, Conservative, Senate
Sharron Angle, Conservative, Senate
Christine O’Donell, Conservative, Senate
George Allen, Conservative, Senate
Joe Miller, Conservative, Senate
Ken Buck, Conservative, Senate
Alan West, Conservative, House
Doug Hoffman, Conservative, House
Every one of above great conservatives would have the courage to vote for cuts in spending. But they can’t. They lost elections. Now they have zero power to do anything in Washington.
Obama’s taking his fat ass to the cleaners too. I hope he spends his last days broke on the streets.
John Boehner.
Next question?
In this case "that fellow behind the tree" is the saver who has his assets in dollars. Both sides have agreed that they're going to tax him by inflating the value of the dollar away. They aren't cutting any spending. They're printing the money to pay for the deficit!
Yup!
The "fiscal cliff" was a successful media creation of the Democrat "mainstream" newsrooms. "We must stop global warming NOW or the oceans will rise and we'll all be drowned!" "We must stop the Africanized killer bees NOW before they migrate north and kill us all!" "Radon..!" "Black mold..!" "Lead-based paint..!" "DDT..!" Etc.
Alarmist, apocalyptic stuff sells, and the political scum fall for it every time... because the massive, ignorant chattering class (ie., the people who elect scum like Ubama) fall for it every time. The fact is, whatever legislation comes out of this "crisis", if any, can be passed a month or two months from now and simply made "retroactive".
They've done it before.
No cuts, no surprise there. Nothing will change until we hit bottom. The bottom will take many by surprise and it will be unpleasant.
Senate voting now and loudmouth Coburn, the conservative blowhard caves again. Worthless.
Looks purdy unpleasant to me. They had lil chulrun out there and a whole lot of pushin and shovin with a really big crowd.
We've been down there around July 4th watching the fireworks from the top of one of the biggest parking buildings but this time two are dead and three others shot. What a mess!!!
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