Democrats win key tax fights in emerging fiscal cliff deal
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story
It not only raises tax rates, but also extends stimulus-era tax policy, prolongs emergency unemployment benefits, maintains targeted tax breaks derided by the party as corporate handouts and revives limits on deductions for the wealthy that have been dormant for almost a decade — all policies that the GOP has fought. It’s expected to raise $600 billion over 10 years.
Above all, the emerging deal would shatter 20 years of Republican orthodoxy on taxes, undercutting a core part of the party identity that had been built around giving no quarter to any tax increase — ever. An eventual vote on this tax package would mark the first time any Republicans have voted en masse on a tax increase since President George H.W. Bush famously recanted on his “read my lips” promise.
Democrats are making concessions of their own, especially on the threshold at which tax rate hikes should kick in.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/democrats-win-tax-fights-in-emerging-fiscal-cliff-deal-85625.html#ixzz2GgWFqikT