The Wall Street Journal reports that the Senate has just voted to reject a bill that would permanently extend the existing tax cuts for individuals making under $200,000 and couples making under $250,000 a year.
The Democratic legislation came seven votes shy of the necessary 60 votes needed to bring it to the floor. Republicans who have rejected this bill have done so on the basis that it allows taxes to go up on the “wealthy.” While the Democrats pushing this bill have suggested that this is necessary, the reality is that many of those affected will be small business owners who file business profits as personal income. These coming tax increases will also negatively affect the already miserable level of unemployment. So Republicans are not going to let the Democrats get off that easily.
The bill was rejected, in large part due to the fact that it was a political stunt intended to force Republicans to vote against a tax cut. Now that this politically motivated garbage is out of the way, some real negotiations can begin on permanent extension of all of the tax cuts. Throw some meaningful spending cuts in there and we might actually start moving in the right direction.