If nothing is done regarding the expiring Bush Tax cuts, the argument goes, millions of middle class Americans who are barely paying their bills now suddenly won't be able to afford to continue on because their taxes will go up an average of $3000/year.
Scary stuff right?
Lets look at the reality of the situation. $3000 per year works out to $250 per month. Now I absolutely understand that getting a new bill for $250 a month is a big deal for many, many people, myself included. But does anyone seriously think that it will stay that way for very long?
The Republicans would immediatly start working on a bill to create new tax breaks for the wealthy, and they would have just seen that the cuts they tried to keep couldn't pass Congress. Even with a strong majority in the House, they would have a very tough time trying to pass the same cuts again with the newly empowered Democrats controlling the Senate.
The very least that would happen is they'd be forced to come up with a more palatable tax cut. They could still claim victory - the Dems could claim victory, and Obama could...well at this point...he could go along for the ride, and the middle class would have paid out about $250 - $500 waiting for it to get done.
Painful? Absolutely. But will it ever be easy?
And my guess is any tax cut package that passed would be made retroactive to January 1st, so they'd probably get that $500 back anyway.
How is this not accurate?
Update:
I think at least a couple of supporting links would probably help
The Hill - On The Money, October 2010
2010 tax rates for individuals and couples