WHAT
JUST HAPPENED? THE FISCAL CLIFF 101
By Bob
“Sully” Sullivan, Host of “The Coalition & Man Talk” on Newsradio 600
KOGO.

What
=
– the “Fiscal cliff” is the popular shorthand term used to describe the
raft of tax increases
and spending cuts that we all would have faced from the Budget Control Act of
2011 which were slated to go into effect at Midnight on January 1,
2013.

Potential
BAD Economic impact =
$700
Billion

The
Problem =
If all of the Tax Increase and Spending Cuts were to go into effect at once, we
would have jettisoned
into a “Double Dip” recession.

The
Bullet We Dodged =
Among the changes that were set to take place at midnight on December 31, 2012
were –

1.  
the
end of last year’s temporary payroll tax cuts (resulting in a 2% tax increase
for workers),

2.  
the
end of certain tax breaks for businesses, shifts in the alternative minimum tax
that would take a larger bite, a rollback of the "Bush tax cuts" from 2001-2003,

3.  
the
beginning of taxes related to President Obama’s health care law.

At the same
time,

  • 1,000
    government programs - including the defense budget and Medicare are in line for
    "deep, automatic cuts."
Of
the two, the tax increases were seen as the larger burden for the
economy.

The
New Dealio = In addition to
neutralizing
middle class tax increases and spending cuts taking effect with
the new year, the legislation will raise tax rates on incomes
over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for
couples.

[That
was higher than the thresholds of $200,000 and $250,000 that Obama campaigned
for.]

GIDDY
UP!