US President Barack Obama and opposition Republicans agreed to extend expiring tax cuts for all Americans and to renew benefits for the long-term unemployed — a compromise that was distasteful to the US leader and angered many in his liberal base.
Obama campaigned for the presidency on the promise that he would leave lower tax rates in place for middle and lower-income Americans while canceling cuts for families earning more than US$250,000 a year. The reductions were put in place during the administration of former US president George W. Bush and were set to expire at the end of the year.
In announcing the compromise at the White House on Monday night, Obama said he did not like the deal, but had little choice.
Republicans were refusing to go along with reinstating higher rates for high income earners, forcing Obama to capitulate or see taxes go up dramatically for hard-pressed middle and lower-income Americans in a period of economic malaise and high unemployment.
“Make no mistake, allowing taxes to go up on all Americans would have raised taxes by US$3,000 for a typical American family and that could cost our economy well over a million jobs,” he said.
In return for the tax deal, Obama won Republican agreement to drop opposition to continued benefits for the long-term unemployed, which ran out last week. Those payments now will last 13 additional months.
The compromise foreshadowed US politics for the coming two years at least, after Republicans won a landslide victory in last month’s election that put them in control of the House of Representatives and significantly diminished the Democratic majority in the Senate.
Obama’s announcement marked a dramatic reversal of his long-held insistence that the nation could not afford continued tax breaks for the wealthy. He sought to put a good face on the deal, however, saying the agreement was temporary, not the permanent renewal that Republicans had long sought.
The tax compromise will now move through both houses of Congress in the so-called lame duck session of Congress, the few weeks of legislative activity between the Nov. 2 elections and the end of the year.
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
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