Boehner Indicates Republicans Ready to Raise Taxes on Wealthy Americans
Despair was replaced with certain amount of optimism on Monday with both Nasdaq and S&P 500 opening higher after House Speaker John Boehner, over the weekend, indicated that Republicans were ready to raise taxes on wealthy Americans, thus paving the way for further congressional negotiation, which, hopefully help in averting the ‘fiscal cliff’.
However, the big question now is whether the White House will offer some concessions on their part, especially on the issue of spending cuts on entitlement programs such as Medicare and social security.
So far, the White House has only welcomed Republicans’ latest policy shift but hasn’t accepted the proposal.
According to a report published in the CNBC, a source close to the White House said that President Obama has not accepted the proposal but refused to divulge any further details on Obama-Boehner talks. Besides, the source did not confirm whether any additional talks took place between President Obama and John Boehner on Sunday.
However, the source did mention that Mr. Boehner proposed extending low tax rates (Bush-era rate cuts) for everyone who has an annual income less than $1 million. In other words, taxes would rise for all those who have income above this threshold.
Prior to this latest proposal, Boehner had insisted on extending all Bush-era‘s lower tax rates while President Obama had demanded to hike marginal rates on incomes that exceeded $250,000. Nevertheless, pressure mounted on Republicans as increasing numbers of business executives demanded a change in stance over the issue of tax hikes.
Commenting over the development, Sean West, U.S. policy analyst at Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, wrote in a note clients, “Boehner’s offer to allow tax rates to go up for taxpayers earning over $1 million fundamentally transforms fiscal cliff negotiations.”
“The political burden is now shifted back to the president, who must be willing to take on his party in order to get a deal Boehner can ultimately pass. We do not think the president will overreach: Obama will work with Boehner to get to a deal,” aadded West
Echoing the same sentiment, Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Potomac Research Group said to CNBC, “Boehner has now accepted the premise of higher rates. So now we’re just arguing over details. I think it’s a significant step.”
More Posts by this author
- Oracle Shares Edge Higher on Q2 Results (ORCL)
- Gold Prices Nosedive Over 2 Percent
- Market Update After Hours December 18
- Stocks End Higher for a Second Straight Day
- Gold Prices Fall Sharply; Silver Prices also Tumble
- Stocks in Green in Late Trading
- 2013 will mark the beginning of a new era for Jefferies – JEF
 |
Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.
|
