Extension of tax cuts: To be or not to be? (video)

Should the budget-busting Bush Era tax cuts be extended or not? This question has dominated the news in the last few weeks.

President Obama has said for months that the tax cuts should be extended for all income under $250,000, which include rich people’s income under $250,000. Republicans have been fighting hard to extend all Bush Era tax cuts– including tax cuts for the riches 1 percent of Americans.

Progressive pundits like Ed Schultz have been telling the President not to cave on this issue; Schultz has been lobbying for letting all of the cuts sunset– in the name of fiscal responsibility. This would force Republicans to fight for tax cuts for the rich in 2011 while at the same time they fight for cuts in government spending and government jobs– thus exposing their hypocracy on the issue of fiscal responsibility.

Unfortunately, Obama appears to be waffling around on this issue. Instead of sticking to his stated policy– only extending tax cuts for income under $250,000– he has offered several alternatives (ie, temporary extension of all cuts, changing the limit to $500,000 or $1 million, etc.) Get real. If these tax cuts are temporarily extended for 2 years, what is the likelihood of sunseting these tax cuts in 2012? Zippo.

I have a new idea. Rich and upper middle class people only pay Social Security Tax on income under $106,000. Yes, if you are a billionaire, only a tiny amount of your income is subjected to Social Security Tax. So, if rich people want tax cuts based upon their entire income, they should pay Social Security Tax on all of their income. Seems fair to me. It would also greatly help the Social Security fund.

For more analysis of the Cat Food Commission’s debit suggestions, the Bush Era tax cuts, fiscal responsibility, and how all of this affects us, check out the video below: “Did the debt commission get it wrong?”

[tnivideo caption=”Did the debt commission get it wrong?” credit=”MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann Show”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogr1pYsLKfc[/tnivideo]