White House Flexible on Bush Tax Cuts

Democrats are pushing hard to include tax increases as part of an agreement to raise the government’s debt ceiling. But the White House isn’t demanding that Bush-era tax cuts be revoked for wealthy Americans, The Hill reports.

Almost immediately after he took office, President Barack Obama sought to end the tax reductions for those with annual income of more than $200,000.

But he agreed to extend the tax cuts for everyone in a compromise with Republicans last year. And now the president is pushing to close tax loopholes for corporate jets, increase taxes for investment fund managers, and ditch some other tax breaks for businesses and tax loopholes for the wealthy.

So the Bush tax cuts now appear safe.