Odious Tax Deal

I'm going to be pragmatic about this latest defeat of the majority Democrats at the hands of the minority Republicans. After all, there are simply no tacticians or statesmen of a high caliber currently in the Democratic Party. The rich win again, as usual.

Voting for an Odious Tax Deal
Published: December 7, 2010

Liberal Democrats are in revolt at the tax deal that President Obama struck with Republicans on Monday, and it is not hard to understand why. By temporarily extending income tax breaks for the richest Americans, and cutting estate taxes for the ultrawealthy, the deal will redistribute billions of dollars from job creation to people who do not need the money.

But the Democrats should vote for this deal, because it is the only one they are going to get. Mr. Obama made that case — strongly — on Tuesday, summoning an eloquence that is often elusive, as it was on Monday when he first announced the deal. Without this bargain, income taxes on the middle class would rise. Unemployment insurance for millions of Americans would expire. And many other important tax breaks for low- and middle-income workers — including a 2 percent payroll tax cut and college tuition credits — would not be possible.

If angry Democrats blow up the deal, they will be left vainly groping for something better in a new Congress where they will have far less influence than they have now. The middle class and the unemployed would be seriously hurt.

The president, and particularly Congressional Democrats, might not be in this bind if they had fought harder against the high-end tax cuts before the midterm elections. But that moment has passed. The real responsibility for what’s wrong with the tax deal lies with Republicans. They coldly insisted on the high-end tax cuts at all costs, no matter the pain they might inflict further down the income ladder or what staggering cost they might impose in years to come.

President Obama was right to use the metaphor of hostage-taking to describe the Republicans’ tactics. Using the parliamentary rules of the Senate, 42 Republican senators threatened to raise middle-class taxes if Democrats let tax cuts expire on the richest 2 percent of Americans. That left the White House and the Democrats little room to maneuver. “I think it’s tempting not to negotiate with hostage-takers, unless the hostage gets harmed,” Mr. Obama said at his news conference on Tuesday.

Some of the provisions won by the president could act as a new stimulus to the economy, particularly the extension of the unemployment benefits for 13 months and the cut to the payroll tax, though the full stimulative effect is uncertain. The cut only applies to wages and salaries up to $106,800 — people who really need it.

There remains much to dislike in the package, including the pressure that its deficit spending will create to cut important programs in the years to come. Mr. Obama was clearly not thrilled at the compromises he had to make, and neither are we. But at least he acted in what he believed are the best interests of the country.

When are the Republicans going to step up and do the same? There is no legitimate national interest in opposing the New Start nuclear arms treaty with the Russians, which most military and foreign leaders agree would make the world a safer place. There is no legitimate national interest in clinging to the discrimination against gay members of the military, which the Pentagon’s leaders want to end. There will be no sound economic reason to make the tax cuts for the top 2 percent of taxpayers permanent in two years.

The only reason for Republican recalcitrance on these issues is to deny the Democrats an accomplishment, to stymie Mr. Obama’s re-election and appeal to the most retrograde elements of the party’s base.

President Obama will face a liberal whirlwind for the compromise he made on taxes. It is time for Republicans to show that they are strong enough to take on their base for their country’s benefit.

Original.