(Image source: The White House ) 

 

BY CELIA MURRAY 

 

It’s tax week and Congress will be considering two new pieces of legislation; the so-called Buffet Rule from the Democrats and a Republicans’ proposed budget plan which includes an overhaul of the tax code. The Buffet Rule is predicted to fail, here’s Bloomberg.

 

“Well it’s not going anywhere, it’s going to be blocked in Congress. I would think it slightly helps the democrats and Obama, it doesn’t matter much as far as the deficit is concerned...”

 

Both sides are getting mixed press on their proposed initiatives. In an interview with Fox News, conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer labels Obama’s Buffet Rule as nothing short of “re-election politics.”

 

Charles Krauthammer:  “What he has done is to literally pit the 99 percent against the one percent. And he has done in a clever way. He basically has turned Occupy Wall Street into legislation...”

 

A columnist for The New York Times says President Obama is framing the week ahead as a quote “clash of philosophies.”

 

“[Obama’s] argument that tax fairness and the common good demand the richest Americans pay at least as much as middle-income taxpayers do, contrasted with Republicans’ opposition to any tax increases as job killers and class warfare, even at the cost of deep cuts in domestic programs.”

 

Republican Representative Paul Ryan — the House budget committee chairman — has proposed plans to overhaul the tax code. A blogger for U.S. News and World Report analyzes Ryan’s fiscal plan , saying... 

 

“Paul Ryan wants to cut the top bracket to 25 percent and eliminate taxation on all capital income. He claims to make up for the lost revenue by doing away with a host of tax preferences that now exist in code, but he is not specific. If he were, there would be cries of anguish throughout the nation as the huge deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions and the taxation of employer paid healthcare benefits come into play.”

 

But a writer for Market Watch is sure of one thing , that taxpayers can expect uncertainty in the near future. 

 

“...Both businesses and individuals like certainty … unless the politicians can come to an agreement, the following will happen in seven months:

• The Bush tax cuts will expire at the end of the year.

• The temporary 2% employee payroll tax cut will also expire at the end of the year.”