Tax Cut Extension. In view of the looming “fiscal cliff” of expiring tax cuts, tax increases, and automatic spending cuts set to take place January 1, 2013, Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) offered a bill (H.R. 8) to extend all of the expiring Bush-era tax rates for one year. The bill would effectively tie alternative minimum tax exemption amounts to inflation in 2012 and 2013; extend the so-called marriage penalty-tax relief, the $1,000 child tax credit, and the 15-percent top tax rate on dividends and capital gains; and keep the estate tax at its current levels.
The House passed the bill on August 1, 2012, by a vote of 256 to 171 (Roll Call 545). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because extending the tax cuts keeps more money in the hands of citizens, where it can be invested into the economy, thus spurring economic growth. Of course, the deficits need to be eliminated, but the way to accomplish this is to cut spending, not increase taxes.
