DEMS CHICKEN OUT ON TAXES – AT 8:36 A.M. ET:  We'll have to wait for the lame-duck session of Congress that follows the election to learn what our tax rates will be next year.  This is really great for family and business planning.  The Politico reports:

Small-business legislation cleared Congress on Thursday even as Senate Democrats retreated from the second big plank of their post-Labor Day session: a vote on making permanent middle-class tax cuts set to expire at the end of this year.

After all the bold talk, it’s a remarkable turnaround — and loss of nerve — that all but ensures that the House also won’t act before going home next week.

Ah, a profile in courage. 

Senate Democrats feel the sting more because they had been at the forefront in wanting to elevate the issue with President Barack Obama before November’s election. The goal then had been to combine small-business relief with middle-class tax breaks in a powerful one-two punch; instead, the party now risks being seen as an aging boxer in the crouch, dodging blows rather than going on offense.

Oh, that's so wounding, so wounding, and so true.

The problem, apparently, is that the Dems didn't want to extend tax cuts for "the rich."  But "the rich," if you look closely, includes many small businesses, struggling for survival, which would see their tax bill go up. 

Republicans should pounce, right now.  Don't let the other side set the narrative, or the vocabulary.  While it's technically true that we're talking about the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts, the practical effect is a tax increase, almost certain to depress the economy. 

September 24, 2010