As painful as it may have been to write this year’s check to Uncle Sam, it could be the smallest check you’ll write for years to come. That’s because all the tax-relief provisions passed in 2001 and 2003 are set to expire on Dec. 31, 2012. Without a single vote by Congress or signature by the president, federal taxes could rise by $3.8 trillion over a decade. We’re already stuck in the weakest recovery since the Great Depression. A tax hike of this magnitude could smother today’s slow growth and modest job creation. The prospects are especially grim for small businesses that pay taxes on their companies’ profits at the individual rate – they could see their top tax rates jump from 35 percent to nearly 40 percent. Congress and the president should act quickly to renew all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and expired or expiring business provisions. Doing this now would boost confidence, ease uncertainty and reinvigorate our recovery. – Thomas J. Donohue, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
You usually can’t reverse a bad decision by simply doing nothing, but that’s exactly the opportunity we have at the end of this year. That’s when the tax cuts for wealthy Americans passed in the early years of the Bush administration are set to expire. Though some politicians are urging that these temporary measures be made permanent, we should instead allow nature to take its course. When the first big tax cut for the wealthy was passed, in 2001, the federal government was awash in cash. And even though our fiscal situation was drastically different two years later – we were by then involved in two costly wars – still more breaks for the wealthiest taxpayers were passed into law. It’s clear we couldn’t afford these cuts in revenue. Let’s by all means extend the tax cuts benefiting families making less than $250,000 a year – which covers 98 percent of all American households. But for the sake of our economy and standing in the world, tax giveaways to those making more than that should be allowed to expire on schedule. – Will Rice, Commonwealth Project
