So, what's the latest proposal from the Democrats on the Super Committee?
WASHINGTON -- Under their latest proposal to the deficit reduction super committee, Democrats would agree to undertake comprehensive tax reform that included a pledge to avoid letting Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy expire.
As the law currently stands, the Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire at the end of 2012, at which point the rates on top earners will rise back up to 39.6 percent. Had the tax cuts been allowed to expire at the end of 2010, it would have generated an extra $690 billion in tax revenues over ten years, according to estimates based on Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation data. By committing to place a cap on those rates at 35 percent -- in exchange for pursuing a tax reform process that produces $650 billion in revenues -- Democrats are granting Republicans a potentially significant concession, one that could scrap a major party talking point about higher-income Americans needing to shoulder a larger share of the deficit burden.
As usual, the devil is in the details.
...it gives Republicans an incentive to negotiate -- both through carrots (the promise of keeping the lower tax rates for the wealthy in place) and sticks (the threat that if comprehensive tax reform isn't completed, those Bush-era rates could still expire).
"Letting them expire is still leverage if Republicans don't agree to that deal or if tax reform doesn't meet that criteria," said one top Democratic Senate aide. "The question is what will tax reform look like if it really happened."
You can read the article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
I would be willing to bet the results will not be appealing to progressives (thank you, Max Baucus).
It's easy to see the republicans aren't interested in keeping their word on any part of the bill if it does not meet their agenda. Many of us have long held that the conservatives would not allow Congress to make cuts to the defense budget without a fight, and recent discussions by republicans to introduce legislation to redefine the programs to be cut in the trigger are proving to be accurate.
There has been a lot of chatter on the Hill about changing the parameters of the trigger currently in place so that the cuts to the defense budget -- that would be made a year after the committee fails to reach a deal, should it fail to reach a deal -- would be softened. And the expectation among Democrats is that enough lawmakers within their party would join with Republicans to do just that.
At what point do the Democrats on the committee start acting in the best interests of their constituents?
"Will The President keep his promise?" emailed one top Democratic operative familiar with the proposal. "The Senate Democrats' proposal would make the Bush tax cuts permanent for millionaires. More tax giveaways to the top one percent is a complete capitulation to Republicans."
I'm hoping the president will keep his word. To his credit, he has warned Congress not to change the triggers in the deal.
The president's congressional outreach on Friday reaffirmed the White House's stance: that the triggers were put in place for a reason and shouldn't be adjusted. But the fact that Obama felt the need to make the point again, both privately over the phone and publicly in the form of a White House statement, suggests that the administration, too, is feeling the pressure to make changes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
(All bold emphasis is mine).
Hopefully, the brave members of the OWS movement will shine a glaring light on this corrupt proposal.
On November 23rd, the Congressional Deficit Reduction Super-Committee will meet to decide on whether or not to keep Obama's extension to the Bush tax-cuts - which only benefit the richest 1% of Americans in any kind of significant way. Luckily, a group of OWS'ers are embarking on a two-week march from Liberty Plaza to the Whitehouse to let the committee know what the 99% think about these cuts. Join the march to make sure these tax cuts for the richest 1% of Americans are allowed to die!
http://occupywallst.org/...