De siste par ukene har mye av debatten i Washington, D.C. dreiet seg om skjebnen til de sagnomsuste «Bush tax cuts» som ble innført i 2001 og 2003. Skulle de videreføres for noen eller alle?
Republikanernes posisjon har hele tiden vært at de må videreføres for alle inntektsklasser, mens Obama har argumentert for at de kun bør videreføres for individer som tjener mindre enn $200 000 og familier som tjener mindre enn $250 000 (ca 1 500 000 norske kroner).
Klokken halv ett i natt norsk tid lanserte President Obama sitt kompromiss. Skattekuttene videreføres for alle i to år. Det er hvert å lese hele Obamas uttalelse, men her er kjernen:
I have no doubt that everyone will find something in this compromise that they don’t like. In fact, there are things in here that I don’t like — namely the extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and the wealthiest estates. But these tax cuts will expire in two years. And I’m confident that as we make tough choices about bringing our deficit down, as I engage in a conversation with the American people about the hard choices we’re going to have to make to secure our future and our children’s future and our grandchildren’s future, it will become apparent that we cannot afford to extend those tax cuts any longer.
As for now, I believe this bipartisan plan is the right thing to do. It’s the right thing to do for jobs. It’s the right thing to do for the middle class. It is the right thing to do for business. And it’s the right thing to do for our economy. It offers us an opportunity that we need to seize.
It’s not perfect, but this compromise is an essential step on the road to recovery. It will stop middle-class taxes from going up. It will spur our private sector to create millions of new jobs, and add momentum that our economy badly needs.
Demokratene har hele tiden argumentert for at republikanerne holdt «middelklassens» skattekutt som gissel mot at også de høyere inntektsklassene fikk sitt. Obama endte altså opp med at dette argumentet ville bety lite for mannen i gata dersom skattene hadde gått opp 1. januar 2011.