I’ve long believed there was a fundamental misunderstanding of how our tax system works that has lead to groundless support for extending the Bush tax cuts to incomes over $250,000. I partially addressed the topic in a previous posting, The arithmetic of taxing the “rich”. What I did not address was how the message was being bungled by those supporting letting the tax cuts expire on income over $250,000.
In a posting last week titled “Why Obama Should Extend the Bush Tax Cut to Everyone — and Why That’s Exactly His Proposal, Stupid“, Robert Reich distilled the issue to its simplest terms saying:
“The President should propose that the Bush tax cuts be extended for EVERYONE — but only on their first $250,000 of income. Hey, wait a minute. That’s exactly what he is proposing.”
It seems simple and it is. If this concept were understood by more people then we might be closer to achieving a consensus on the appropriate action that should be taken on the Bush tax cuts.
Confronting Mediocrity 