GOP, Dems Butt Heads Again Over Fiscal Cliff

November 11, 2012 from Reuters

President Obama may have won the election, but it's clear he hasn't won the hearts and minds of GOP Senate budget leaders, particularly concerning the looming fiscal cliff. There's been talk about compromise on both sides of the aisle, but apparently no one told some of the speakers on the Sunday news shows. President Obama, meanwhile, made his latest pitch to extend current tax breaks to the middle class, but not to the wealthiest, in his weekly address.

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Fiscal cliff

In the United States, the fiscal cliff was a simultaneous increase in tax rates and decrease of government spending through sequestration that would have occurred January 2013 through a series of previously enacted laws. The deficit—the amount by which government spending exce... Explore this topic

Tax cut

A tax cut is a reduction in taxes. The immediate effects of a tax cut are a decrease in the real income of the government and an increase in the real income of those whose tax rate has been lowered. Due to the perceived benefit in growing real incomes among tax payers politici... Explore this topic

Tax break

Tax break is a term referring to any item which avoids taxes, including any tax exemption, tax deduction, or tax credit. "Tax break, or "tax loophole," is used pejoratively in the United States to refer to purportedly favorable tax treatment of any class of persons, as in "ind... Explore this topic

Middle Class

The middle class is a class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class. The common measures of wh... Explore this topic

Tax rate

In a tax system and in economics, the tax rate describes the burden ratio at which a business or person is taxed. There are several methods used to present a tax rate: statutory, average, marginal, and effective. These rates can also be presented using different definitions ap... Explore this topic

Tax

A tax is a financial charge or other levy imposed upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many administrative divisions. Taxes consist of direct or indirect taxes and may be pai... Explore this topic

Saxby Chambliss

Clarence Saxby Chambliss is the senior United States Senator from Georgia. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a U.S. Representative. During his four terms in the House, Chambliss served on the United States House of Representatives Permanent Select Commi... Explore this topic

Wealth in the United States

Wealth in the United States is commonly measured in terms of net worth, which is the sum of all assets, including home equity, minus all liabilities. For example, a household in possession of an $800,000 house, $5,000 in mutual funds, $30,000 in cars, $20,000 worth of stock in... Explore this topic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States along with the Republican Party. Since the 1930s, the party has promoted a socially liberal and progressive platform, and its Congressional caucus is composed of progressives, libe... Explore this topic

United States

The United States of America, commonly called the United States or America, is a federal republic consisting of fifty states and a federal district. The lower forty-eight contiguous states and the federal district of Washington, D.C. are in central North America between Canada... Explore this topic

Also See

Fiscal cliff

Tax cut

Tax break