The Tax Cut To Nowhere

The middle-class tax cut, which had been the cornerstone of the Obama campaign's economic plan, now faces an uncertain future in Congress. Outlining his administration’s budget priorities during last night’s press conference, President Obama stressed his effort will be focused on health care reform, energy policy, investment in education and deficit reduction - and it will be up to Congress whether or not the tax "cuts" are made permanent.

The real trick here will be to see how exactly the President intends to reduce the deficit when the other three priorities appear to require massive and permanent “investment”. Washington has proven it can spend; however, it does not have the best track record on cutting back.

And what of those tax “cuts” to 95% of American households - the President sought fit to leave Congress holding that bag. “When it comes to the middle-class tax cut,” the President said, “we know that’s going to be in place for at least the next two years.” But the President continued, “If Congress has better ideas in terms of how to pay for it, then we’re happy to listen.”

“We never expected, when we printed out our budget, that they would simply Xerox it and vote on it,” Obama said. Perhaps, but that’s precisely what they did at his direction; and now, a different sort of printing press is working overtime to pay for it.