Understanding the President’s fiscal cliff offer

Understanding the President’s fiscal cliff offer | Keith Hennessey.

According to Stanford University’s Keith Hennessey, here are the parts of the Obama administration’s offer which are supposedly “non-negotiable”:

Taxes

  • Raise top two income tax rates permanently (for single taxpayers earning $200,000+ and for married filing jointly households earning $250,000+);
  • Extend all other tax rates, credits, and related income tax provisions permanently;
  • Tax dividend income as ordinary income (nearly tripling the current 15% rate);
  • Estate tax: first $3.6M is exempted, everything above $3.6M is taxed at a 45% rate.

Debt limit

  • Increase the debt limit “permanently,” meaning further action by Congress to raise it in the future would not be needed ever again.