The Setup

The Wall Street Journal points out how the stimulus package recently negotiated between Bush and Democratic leadership in the House will quickly be used against Bush’s tax cuts:

Let’s hope Republicans appreciate the irony, because no doubt Democrats do. By signing on to a bigger deficit for the sake of election-year stimulus, Mr. Bush is making it easier for Democrats to wave the red ink as an excuse to justify repealing his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts next year.

Credit it where it’s due. This was a crafty move on the part of House Democrats: Make a mostly empty gesture toward stimulating the economy that will play well in election year while setting yourself up to achieve policy goals in the next.  Raising taxes by letting the Bush cuts expire is, of course, exactly what we don’t need to do; the best thing would be to make them permanent now so as to remove current uncertainty businesses have about what their future taxes will be.  And everyone in America — from the richest to the poorest — deserves to keep more of what they earn.