Tax Cuts

WASHINGTON - Workers probably won't feel the full brunt of next year's tax increases in their January paychecks, but don't be fooled by the temporary reprieve. No matter what Congress does to address the year-end fiscal cliff, it's already too late for employers to accurately withhold income taxes from January paychecks, unless all the current tax rates remain unchanged, which is unlikely. Social Security payroll taxes are set to increase on Jan. 1, so workers should immediately feel the squeeze of a 2 percent cut in their take-home pay. But as talks drag on over how to address other year-end tax increases, the Internal Revenue Service has delayed releasing income tax withholding tables for 2013.

WASHINGTON - Senators bickered Sunday over who's to blame for sending the country lurching toward a year-end "fiscal cliff," bemoaning the lack of a deal days before the deadline but bridging no differences in the debate. With the collapse Thursday of House Speaker John Boehner's plan to allow tax rates to rise on million-dollar-plus incomes, Sen. Joe Lieberman said: "It's the first time that I feel it's more likely we'll go over the cliff than not," meaning that higher taxes for most Americans and painful federal agency budget cuts would be in line to go into effect automatically.

WASHINGTON - The nation's capital stumbled closer to the fiscal cliff Wednesday as President Obama and congressional Republicans dug in deeper on their positions on taxes, even as no face-to-face negotiations took place. No more talks are scheduled. With hope fading for a deal before Christmas, House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio told his Republican colleagues to prepare for a holiday season of tense negotiations. He told reporters of a "deliberate call" he had with Obama on Tuesday evening after each man rejected the other's latest offer.

A WASHINGTON POST -Pew Research poll last week said that, if the fiscal cliff talks "fail," Americans will blame Republicans in Congress (53 percent) more than they will President Obama (27 percent). Makes sense: Obama won the election. But, do elections matter any more? Remember, we would not be looking at a "fiscal cliff" right now if it weren't for the gravely irresponsible, and highly undemocratic, fight over raising the debt ceiling that Republicans provoked in 2011. That was supposed to be a vote to pay the bill for government spending already authorized, something past Congresses had done routinely.

Honest look ahead Thanks very much for Diane Mastrull's excellent article "Planning to maintain the Taussig mission" (Monday). It's so refreshing to see an organization, especially a family-owned organization such as Untours, a travel-planning business, deal honestly with the impending mortality of a founder. I love the unflinching, unsentimental, and yet kind discussion by those facing family succession and Hal Taussig's mortality. So many of us would be well-served to follow this example of leadership, both in business and in our own lives and families.

AS THE POLITICAL posturing gets more intense over the mix of tax increases and automatic spending cuts due to kick in at the end of the year, here's one concession that President Obama should make right now: Conservatives are much better at creating vivid metaphors than progressives are. Even though it's highly misleading, the budget situation dominating the news has come to be known as the "fiscal cliff," an image that suggests an economic disaster akin...

WASHINGTON - Americans prefer letting tax cuts expire for the country's top earners, as President Obama insists, while support has declined for cutting government services to curb budget deficits, an Associated Press-GfK poll shows. Fewer than half the Republicans polled favor continuing the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy. There's also a reluctance to trim Social Security, Medicare, or defense programs, three of the biggest drivers of federal spending, the survey released Wednesday found.

WASHINGTON - President Obama on Tuesday rejected a GOP proposal to collect new taxes from high earners by limiting their deductions and tax breaks, insisting that any deal to avoid the year-end fiscal cliff must include an agreement to raise the top income tax rates. "We're going to have to see the rates on the top 2 percent go up," Obama told Bloomberg Television in his first television interview since the Nov. 6 election. "And we're not going to be able to get a deal without it. " Senior Republican aides said the White House offered no additional response to the plan put forth Monday.

WASHINGTON - House Republicans Monday put forth a $2.2 trillion "fiscal cliff" counteroffer to President Obama, calling for raising the eligibility age for Medicare, lowering cost-of-living hikes for Social Security benefits and bringing in $800 billion in higher tax revenue - but not raising rates for the wealthy. The White House declared that the Republicans still weren't ready to "get serious. " With the clock ticking toward the year-end deadline, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other Republicans said that they were proposing a "reasonable solution" for negotiations that Boehner says have been going nowhere.

WASHINGTON - House Republicans put forth a $2.2 trillion fiscal cliff counteroffer to President Obama on Monday, calling for raising the eligibility age for Medicare, lowering cost-of-living increases for Social Security benefits, and bringing in $800 billion in higher tax revenue - but not raising rates for the wealthy. In turn, the White House declared that the Republicans still weren't ready to "get serious. " With the clock ticking toward the year-end deadline, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R., Ohio)