Tax cuts

The November national elections are casting doubt on President Obama's wish to let former President Georege Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy expire in January.

The Bush era cuts lowered tax rates while providing other breaks for education and married couples. A gradual repeal of the federal estate tax also expires this year, allowing the estate tax to return.

President Obama wants to maintain the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 on low- and middle-income families but not for individuals making more than $200,000 and for married couples earning more than $250,000.

Republicans want to make all the reductions permanent. However, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that would add almost $4 trillion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years.

Under President Obama's plan, taxes would increase an average of $532 a year for taxpayers earning between $200,000 and $500,000. For those making up to $1 million, taxes would increase about $9,800. Letting the cuts expire for those making more than $1 million would increase their tax bills $95,000.

If all the cuts expire, income taxes would rise just over $900 for wage earners between $40,000 and $50,000 and a little more than $1,000 for those making between $50,000 and $75,000.

However, some Democratic candidates, including incumbent senators and representatives running for election in November, are questioning the wisdom of President Obama's plan while favoring an extension of all the cuts for a year or longer.

While one or two votes in the House might not make a difference, a shift of just a few senators could be decisive.

Congress can't simply do nothing. Democratic leaders in Congress, though, have made it difficult for their colleagues facing tough re-election campaigns by delaying action on the tax cuts close to the elections, making a compromise extension a likely course.