Harry Reid says the Senate will consider the Bush tax cuts in September. What will they do about them? Hard to say. The options seem to be to extend most of them or all of them. Few seem to be thinking of substantially changing them, scrapping them or embedding them in a larger tax reform package.
So it goes, I guess. One of the reasons Democrats are so afraid to touch the tax cuts, even for the rich, is their purported effect on small business. Cue Howard Gleckman:
A half million top-bracket filers will report net positive business income averaging more than $700,000. These are the people — not the mom-and-pop business owners — who would be hit by the expiration of the top bracket tax cuts. Who are they? Many are doctors, lawyers and investors. Others are very successful entrepreneurs who may own a chain of grocery stores or dry cleaners, or a lot of real estate. Do they fit your image of a small business owner? That, I suppose, is in the eye of the beholder.
