House Republicans Looking to Raise Your Taxes

President Obama's tax cuts will expire in just 11 days unless the Tea Party Republicans in the House change their minds. The bipartisan Senate bill extending the tax cuts was rejected by the House Republicans today for pure political reasons. They are trying to play games with your paychecks, but this is not a game.

The tax cut affects 160 million working Americans and works out to an average savings of $40 per paycheck, or $1,000 per year. At a time when they are fighting for huge tax breaks for millionaires and corporations, it is unbelievable that the House Republicans are rejecting the bipartisan Senate bill that cuts taxes for the rest of us.

The House Republicans are once again embracing wrong-headed public policy just to play politics. Independent economists are raising flags about the serious economic consequences if these tax cuts expire. As Moody's Analytics' Mark Zandi said, "one way or another, policy makers need to figure out how to at the very least extend the payroll tax holiday for another year."

You can already hear the spin coming from the House Republicans attempting to deflect blame or claim that the bill still needs to be negotiated over, but this is nonsense. The Senate bill is a bipartisan tax cut with overwhelming support from both Senate Democrats and Republicans. There is no more work to be done. House Republicans need to decide right now if political games are more important to them than your paycheck.