Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, tells National Review Online that a tentative tax deal between President Obama and the GOP is “a much bigger victory than people see” for the Republicans.
Of course the deal isn’t perfect, Norquist says. He would have preferred a permanent extension of the income-tax rates, as opposed to just two years, but thinks Republicans should be thrilled at the prospect of revisiting the tax debate in 2012, when Obama is up for reelection, especially when the agreed-upon extension of jobless benefits will ensure that the unemployment rate remains artificially high.
According to Norquist, this GOP victory is really a failure on the part of Democrats, who had every opportunity to extend most of the Bush tax rates (and to take the political credit). Their failure to do so not only exposes the party’s ideological commitment to higher taxes, but puts them on poor footing politically. “Look at the last four years,” he says. “They never intended to extend the rates for anyone, or they’d have done it by now.”
Norquist says Republicans should be especially pleased with the proposal to reestablish the estate tax at a rate of 35 percent (for two years), given Democrats’ desire to return to a permanent rate of 55 percent after going all of 2010 without any estate tax whatsoever. “Think about how badly Democrats wanted [a return to a 55 percent rate],” he says. “They were willing to suck it up for a whole year . . . all those lucky dead people who weren’t sufficiently looted.” Now 35 percent becomes the new baseline, and Democrats are fighting a losing battle.
If the Democrats are losing this fight now, with large majorities in both houses of Congress, it will only get much worse for them when Republicans take over the House and install a cloture-proof coalition in the Senate in 2011, as the debate over taxes continues in the next Congress.
Norquist thinks this deal on taxes has the GOP off to a good start. “Any time there’s a deal, you go, ‘We could’ve done better,’” he says. “But you could’ve done a lot worse.”
Maybe he's right, but I'm pretty dismayed about the further extension of unemployment benefits. I know too many people, who seemingly had unimpeachable work ethics, and consider themselves conservatives, who sat on unemployment for 11 to 12 months and longer, and purposefully didn't look for work. Sure, they filled out the requirements for unemployment, but they did not want the jobs they applied for and wouldn't have taken a job anyway.
I think the extension of these benefits is an erosion of American prosperity and capitalism. It further strengthens the Democrats by encouraging a new generation of looters and wealth destroyers. It also erodes their skills, which is a further destruction of American prosperity and a permanent loss of productive wealth.
Of the things I think are bad for the economy, this extension is one of the worst. It's purely absurd to think that someone can't find or create a job in 3 years. It's absurd. Hey folks, if you can't find a job in THREE years, it's time to MOVE to a new part of the country. I can't believe this is America behaving this foolishly. It adds to the deficit, and will further increase the likelihood of a huge tax increase in our future.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI completely disagree. This 2 year deal is unlikely to provide any of the needed certainty the markets and business will need to get the economy out of the doldrums. Stagnation and a still floundering jobs market will not help good for the republicans in 2012.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo let's see: After a highly principled, passionate yet civil debate the parties set aside their differences and came together to act in the best interests of the country...by agreeing to do absolutely nothing and punt the problem another 2 years down the road so that it can be red meat for the 2012 campaign. [Well that'll teach those losers who thought they just voted in an "election".]
Immediately after reaching this historic deal the once-in-a-generation transformational post-partisan President took the stage to praise himself- er, the result, and to denounce lawmakers who agreed with him, and those who disagreed with him, along with the American people and Fox News. [OK, so I made up the part about Fox News.]
But hey: It's win-win!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWEell it looks like we have become a "Parliament of ......s". Obama can now be called the Neville Chamberlain of the 21 century. He he blieves there will be peace in our time. Instead our nation will further become a failed state and we are becoming a nation of Oliver Twists and just imagine the smile on the facecs of the Chinese communists. We have the world just where theywant us.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's.. it's... it's morning in America!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGrover is right. And not just a purple puppet, either!
External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive"
If Grover Norquist thinks that the "tentative tax deal between President Obama and the GOP is 'a much bigger victory than people see for the Republicans,' (I'm presuming Grover's Islamist buddies were unavailable for comment) then my initial discouragement with the agreement is rapidly giving into despair. A tax cut strongman, so I'm told, and national security puffball is a combination to be trusted only in a negative sense, that is, if Grover were to come out foursquare for good roads and good weather I would be suspicious. I am truly worried now.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Norquist says Republicans should be especially pleased with the proposal to re-establish the estate tax at a rate of 35 percent (for two years)"
This is good news? The GOP is thrilled that the government will take only an arm and half a leg, instead of two arms or two legs?
[The chocolate ration has been increased....]
God help us.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is a victory. A partial one, but still a victory. The glass is half full (well maybe not half, but heading in the right direction). The bigger goal remains to defeat Obama in 2012 so Obamacare can be rolled back.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf by "much bigger victory" Norquist means "supremely unexceptional" then yeah - it's Mt. Everest huge.
Presumably, we get from this deal:
1.) Unemployment checks out the yin-yang
2.) Jacked up estate taxes
3.) Payroll tax reduction that only replaces an item from the alleged stimulus bill, and which will cost an estimated $120 billion.
In other words, nothing has changed except Washington is going to flush even more money down the toilet.
Huzzah!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe ratio of job openings to applicants has been approximately five to one through this downturn. The sheer hubris of referring to these people as "looters and wealth destroyers" boggles the imagination. Characterizing the difficulty of finding a job over some finite period, when the supply outstrips the demand by half an order of magnitude, as "absurd" bespeaks either innumeracy or a complete failure of the imagination. If a large number of people have failed to find a job in three years, it may be due to something other than a character flaw.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse2011 PRELIMINARY BOUT - OBAMA 1, SENATE REPUBLICANS 0
Grover's put a SMASHING shade of lipstick on that pig. Very attractive, don't you think?
Leader McConnell (for whom i have a high level of respect), choose "peace, love and understanding" over the head-to-head confrontation over basic Conservative principles and values.
"Moral Hazard?" - Who cares, let them eat croissants - on somebody else's dime. Mitch ain't paying.
"Declare the pennies on your eyes?" Hey, they're DEAD,they can't complain.
Force Turban Durbin and Slimy Schumer and their fellow Senate Fabians to go on the record?
"Hey, that would be rude."
once again, "ex nihil, nihilo fit"
Now that We Little Folk have installed Our GOP Senate Masters and we can now go back to beating our wives and children, cleaning our guns and clinging to our Bibles.
While the Senate GOP squanders a once-in-a-generation-political-mandate in favor of comity and civility in the cloakroom and in the dining room at The Inn.
Who said "you get what you pay for", as if.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think it's important to keep a long-game focus on just what happened, ie, Republicans have advanced the ball down the field and we're in a good position to score even better as time goes on.
Sure, this agreement contains even more budget-busters than what we've seen the past two years BUT the national conversation is now sitting firmly on debt and deficits, taxes and the size and scope of government. This is a policy arena that Democrats are incredibly weak in (their answer to every problem is just raise taxes and create more of them) and one that will not go away overnight.
It will take more common sense fiscal conservative arguments to keep the nation attention, but the team in place now (Republicans) is in a better position ideologically than in any other time since the 80's. All this really means is that conservatives can't count their chickens before they hatch and we need to keep pushing ahead. We've got the beachhead secured and it's time to start pushing the enemy back into defensive postures.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOne problem comes to mind.. What if unemployment zooms to 20 or 25%. Even higher if Dream Act passes...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat Norquist is espousing here is pretty bad, to say the least. His opinion is based on a purely political footing. The tax cuts are set to expire in 2012 (bad), unemployment benefits are extended (which will lead to artificially higher unemployment and another political "win" for republicans - bad again) and the estate tax just got majorly goosed (more bad).
In Mr. Norquist's world giving in to a bunch of the left's demands after a historic lefty trouncing in the elections is a good thing because... why again? Because it hurts the country and an economically bereft America should theoretically put the democrats at a disadvantage come 2012? Maybe if Mr. Norquist let us all in on his utilitarian calculus on this subject we would have a better idea where he is coming from.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGrover Norquist?
Oh, the arab lobbyist.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSorry, not really listening.
Why do we care what Grover Norquist has to say?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think this is a good deal.
Individual Income Tax. The GOP got slightly better than the status quo ante on federal individual income tax for the next two years.
Estate Taxes. The GOP got a better deal on the federal estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes than I anticipated. The top marginal rate for the federal estate, gift, generation-skipping, and individual income taxes is now at 35%. If we had done nothing, the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer taxes would have all gone back to 55%. Further, most states that repealed their estate taxes had legislation that resurrected their state death taxes upon a resumption of the state death tax credit as it existed on 12/31/2000. Consequently, this new legislation is not only a federal transfer tax cut, it is also a state death tax cut. This is a huge victory for the GOP that eluded them in 2000 when the best deal they could cut with President Clinton was a proposed reduction in marginal estate tax rates from 55% to 44% that was ultimately rejected by the Republican Senate leadership of that time.
Unemployment Compensation. The GOP would have eventually capitulated on this issue if the Democrats had been uncompromising. I view this quid pro quo to the Democrats as a price well worth paying.
We should recognize that the Congressional GOP appears to have done something right. All too often, ordinary Republicans assume that our leaders are incompetent and will be outflanked by the Democrats in Washington. At this moment, it appears as if they did the right thing given the political realities they face. I congratulate them.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe reporting on this deal regarding the unemployment extension has been abysmal.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt is not a 3 year extension of unemployment benefits.
The estate tax was going up to 50 % with only a one million exemption.
Now, it's 35 % with a 5 million exemption.
35 % is still too high and I bet the Republicans will revisit this in the future.
A week ago, did anyone think we would have gotten all..all... of the Bush tax cuts extended ?
I didn't . I'm very happy with the deal.
And if it falls through, it's the Democrats who are the Grinches at Christmas, not the Republicans.
Who knew McConnell was such a good poker player ?
This is a huge victory for Republicans and a substantial victory for conservatives. As of today Republicans control neither branch of the Congress nor the presidency. After the turn of the year they will control one-half of the legislative branch and no more. Against this backdrop they got essentially everything they wanted. The Bush tax code is extended for two more years. Would a permanent extension have been better? Sure, but remember that Bush WITH GOP MAJORITIES IN BOTH HOUSES could not get a permanent extension. If the GOP wins Senate & presidency in 2012 they can make all of the tax cuts permanent if they wish.
Estate tax (a vile thing) is reduced substantially, with a $10 mil per couple exclusion and then a 35% rate. This is far better than any 'compromise' proposed in the last ten years. Would it have been better to eliminate it completely forever? Sure. Bush with GOP majorities in both houses couldn't get it done.
FICA tax cut replaces Making Work Pay. Everybody drawing a paycheck benefits from this instead of just the politically preferred. Will it solve the unemployment problem? No, but it'll help at the margin.
In return for giving in on all the GOP priorities Obama insisted on 13 months of extended unemployment insurance. Very likely something close to that would have eventually passed as a stand alone bill, so the Republicans gave up nothing.
This was not triangulation by Obama -- it was capitulation. Let's hope the (still) Dem controlled Congress goes along with the deal.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse