That’s because, “at the end of the day, no one wants to see taxes go up on 150 million Americans on
Some provisions were “odious,” Axelrod said,
singling out upper-income tax cuts and the estate tax. But that’s the
nature of compromise, he said, calling the overall deal a “win for the
American people.”
He spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union” and
A showdown in the lame-duck
The package would extend
The Obama-GOP deal also would revive the estate tax,
which lapsed at the end of 2009, but at a lower rate than many
Democrats prefer. In addition, jobless benefits would be extended and
the payroll tax would be reduced by 2 percentage points for one year.
Rep.
next year, told “Fox News Sunday” that the estate-tax provisions remain
a “choking point.” The bill would allow individuals to pass on up to
estate-tax terms and suggested the provision should be voted on
separately. But he said the estate tax was not a deal breaker.
Some Democrats favor a 45 percent tax rate on estates worth more than
Rep.
said if House Democrats scuttle the deal, the first thing Republicans
will do next year will be prevent “job-killing tax increases” and make
the changes retroactive. Come January, the
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-
called the package “the only stimulus we can bring to this economy. We
need to work together to pass it, and hope that this economy gets well.”
“In three weeks Republicans take over the
Economist
Goolsbee told
however, that Obama did not believe tax cuts for high-income Americans
stimulated the economy. But he called them part of a compromise needed
to win provisions beneficial to the middle class. When high-income tax
cuts lapse in two years, he said, they will not be able to “stand on
their own merits.”
He sidestepped a question on when the country would
see a meaningful reduction in the unemployment rate. He said the
jobless rate was influenced by the number of jobs created and the
number of people entering the labor force.
“Having private-sector job growth for 11 months and
adding 1.2 million jobs is a good start,” Goolsbee said, “but we’ve got
to do much more.”
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