Obama Open to Tax Cut Compromise

With his proverbial political tail between his legs, President Barack Obama has articulated his clearest signal yet that he is open to a post-midterm compromise with newly empowered Republicans that would sustain some parts of the Bush-era tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2010. —JCL

Reuters:

President Barack Obama gave his clearest signal yet on Saturday of a possible post-election compromise with resurgent Republicans that could prevent tax rates from rising for any American, even the wealthiest, come January.

Obama, in his first weekly radio address since his Democrats suffered big losses in Tuesday’s congressional elections, reasserted that Bush-era tax cuts should be made permanent for the middle class before they expire at year-end.

But while insisting tax cuts for wealthier Americans should not become permanent because of a $700 billion impact on the deficit over the next decade, he left the door open to a temporary extension for higher income levels—as long as it falls short of costing that much.

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AP

President Obama, shown here giving the speech in 2009 in which he declared that “we start from the simple premise that we should reduce the tax burden on working people.” Because, you know, the really, really, really rich work too.