I’ve got a column arguing this at length, but it’s clear to me from the dueling post-election press conferences that John Boehner is bluffing on tax cuts and people should stop paying attention to him.
Nothing will happen during the Lame Duck session. Then the Bush tax cuts will expire. Then Obama will propose some middle class tax cuts and the House will pass them. The interesting thing to talk about is whether that Obama tax reform could somehow be more creative/interesting/better than simple extension of the Bush tax cuts. But either way, Obama will get what he wants on policy and Republicans will get what they want on politics—namely the ability to complain that taxes on the rich are too high and people need to elect them to enact some tax cuts.
