Tax cuts for everyone (except those who aren't wealthy)

Bloomberg:

Republican lawmakers, facing the prospect that their power to cut taxes may soon be curbed, plan to extend breaks that mostly benefit the wealthy and Wall Street at the expense of reductions for middle-income households.

Six months before elections that may return a Democratic majority in at least one house of Congress, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois are focusing on extending the 15 percent rate on investments and repealing the estate tax. They won't push extensions of lower rates for all taxpayers and expanded breaks for married couples and families with children, which expire after 2010.

"In politics, timing is everything; you do what you can when you can, and this is what's queued up right now," says Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, the No. 4 Republican in the Senate. Given the federal budget deficit, it would "be hard to generate public support overnight" for making permanent the other tax cuts, he says.

First off, if there is another reason that Kyl needs to go down in defeat this fall, I'm not sure what it is. Garnering support for the middle class tax cuts would not be difficult at all. In fact, I'm sure a large majority of the middle class would support them.

But Republicans understand that Democrats would likely push those tax cuts anyway. Here they can pander to their wealthy base and know that, win or lose, Democrats will more than likely support extending the middle class tax cuts. So for Republicans, it's not about doing what's right for a majority of Americans, it's about helping themselves for as long as they can.

No wonder people are tired of their leadership.

(By the way, if you'd like to help defeat Jon Kyl, support his opponent Democrat Jim Pederson).