Its time to stop calling them “the Bush Tax Cuts”

In an otherwise good look at how Taxmageddon is causing economic uncertainty, The Washington Post reports:

The impending upheaval is the result of multiple policy changes all set to hit at the same time. The George W. Bush-era tax cuts are scheduled to expire in December, along with a temporary payroll-tax holiday sought by President Obama.

But the Bush tax cuts officially expired at the end of 2010. President Obama had a full two years of a Democrat controlled House and Senate to fix the tax problem. If he could push Obamacare through the Senate (which included its own $500 billion tax hike), he could have pushed through a fix for the end of the Bush tax cuts too.

Obama has now signed off on two temporary extensions of the existing tax rates. And as the Post points out, he even added his own temporary tax cut. This is his tax code. Taxmageddon is a political and policy problem of his creation. Whatever economic uncertainty and job losses that are occurring due to this problem are his fault. The Post reports:

Tax policy is also causing heartburn. Kate Barton of Ernst & Young said she is advising clients not to count on the renewal of a slew of popular business tax breaks that expired in December. Even incentives for research and development, which are revered in both parties, could get caught in the year-end logjam.
“We’re not trying to be alarmist. But it’s a time when the telescope and the crystal ball are really foggy,” Barton said. “You talk to one person and you hear one thing; you talk to another and you hear something else.”

At some point Obama has to take ownership of this.

Related Content