2012 Presidential Election, Bush Tax Cuts | featured news

Tax cuts that President George W. Bush signed in 2001 and 2003 are playing a major role in the election of 2012. They surface again today as the Democratic-run Senate holds a symbolic debate over President Obama's proposal to extend the Bush tax cuts only for middle-class Americans, not for the wealthy.

A long-running war between Democrats and Republicans over Bush-era tax cuts doomed the debt supercommittee's chances of reaching a deal. Efforts to overhaul the tax code may await the same fate as both parties gear up to make taxes a central issue in 2012 elections....

Republicans, emboldened by their big mid-term elections wins, are mulling backing a temporary extension of Bush-era tax cuts, which would tee up the issue to use against President Barack Obama in 2012 contests.