Democrats
don’t need to lure Republicans into negotiations in order to raise taxes on the
rich. They can just wait until January first and it happens automatically. The more clever of the Republicans realize this
and want to strike a deal now, before the Bush tax cuts expire, when they can
negotiate from the lower baseline. That’s why some members are floating a
willingness to submit to a slightly higher tax rate if Obama will agree to a
revenue target “well below” the $1.6 trillion he is asking for.
....
Republicans are only contemplating this
method because it follows the path of least resistance, a path dictated by the
conservative movement's paranoia about a budget sellout. It doesn't require an
agreement with Obama or an affirmative vote to raise taxes. But it also gives
Obama the strongest leverage to ultimately set revenue levels. Republicans have
constructed all their anti-tax defenses against a bipartisan budget deal, never
imagining that higher taxes would transpire through legislative inaction rather
than action.
Republicans are following a path that is
likely to lead to higher taxes because the entrenched methods of anti-tax
politics are preventing them from maneuvering. The conservative movement is
designed to prevent a compromise, when compromise is the thing Republicans most
need in order to hold taxes low.
Way to one-up me Chait. Now I look like a vengeful, partisan
dick. I suppose after years of conservative madness, that is how I feel.
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