Obama plays it safe on taxes. Too bad.
Obama had an opportunity to at least tie an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts to tax reform and deficit reduction next year in his address to Congress yesterday. But instead of using his platform to demand such a linkage, Obama offered little more than a rehash of past, unproductive arguments.
Barack Obama lays out his plan to extend tax cuts for the middle class, during an announcement from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, July 9, 2012. According to Gleckman, the President didn't offer anything new or drastic with his plan, which was disappointing.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
President Obama today urged Congress to extend the 2001/2003 tax cuts for households making $250,000 or less and insisted lawmakers let those provisions expire for those making more. As the president himself said, “I’m not proposing anything radical here.”
Skip to next paragraph
Howard Gleckman is a resident fellow at The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, the author of Caring for Our Parents, and former senior correspondent in the Washington bureau of Business Week. (http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org)
Recent posts
-
05.16.13
Free the IRS from regulating political speech -
05.15.13
IRS and the Tea Party: A small but bungling scandal -
05.14.13
Did the IRS illegally target the Tea Party? Seven questions answered. -
05.13.13
IRS was wrong to target Tea Party. What about other political groups? -
05.10.13
Health cost growth slows. Time to rethink budget debate?
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
He’s right. And that’s too bad. This was an opportunity for Obama to at least tie an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts to tax reform and deficit reduction next year. But instead of using his bully pulpit to demand such a linkage, Obama offered little more than a vague suggestion:
“Next year, once the election is over, [once] things have calmed down a little bit, based on what the American people have said and how they’ve spoken during that election, we’ll be in a good position to decide how to reform our entire tax code in a simple way that lowers rates and helps our economy grow, and brings down our deficit — because that’s something that we’re going to have to do for the long term.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of either tax reform or deficit reduction. Not exactly leadership either.
Of course, a demand that Congress link an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts to long term fiscal reform—especially one made in the heat of campaign season—would be entirely unenforceable. Just look at how Congress is responding to the deadlines it set as part of last summer’s debt limit deal. Still, the president could have tried a lot harder to push Congress for a quid pro quo.
Instead, Obama chose to replay the politics of the past 3 ½ years. His message: “I want to cut taxes for regular folks and raise them for rich people. Republicans are willing to raise taxes on regular folks to protect their rich pals.” The Republican counter: “Obama favors job-killing tax increases on small businesses and other job creators.”
This is tiresome and not productive. The last time the two sides danced this dance, we got a debt limit crisis that, at best, added uncertainty to an already-nervous economy. Obama’s announcement today moves us toward yet another replay of that dismal experience.
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org.
Follow Us