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Tax Battle Will Be Tough for Democrats to Lose: Albert R. Hunt

By Albert R. Hunt - Sep 19, 2010 10:06 AM ET

Bloomberg Opinion

(Albert R. Hunt is the executive editor for Washington at Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

Democrats have a good hand, politically and substantively, in the big tax-cut fight; they could screw it up.

The two parties have staked out hard positions in a battle that may help define the U.S. elections this autumn. Democrats want to extend the tax cuts for the middle class; Republicans insist that’s not possible unless tax cuts for the highest earners are extended, too.

“Public-opinion polling shows strong support across the electorate for making permanent the middle-class tax cuts that otherwise would expire at the end of this year,” Geoff Garin, a leading Democratic polltaker, advised congressional leaders in a memo last week. Voters, he added, would direct “anger and agitation” against anyone “who stood in the way” of these middle-class cuts.

Moreover, if necessary, Democrats have a viable backup: extend the upper-income tax cuts for one year -- countering Republican charges that you can’t raise any taxes with the unemployment rate at 9.6 percent -- while making the middle- class tax cuts permanent. Decoupling the tax cuts would ultimately require the upper-income provisions to stand on their own.

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yes, I think Dems are in a good place with saving taxcuts for those with income < $250k.