President Obama today agreed to a two-year extension of all Bush-era tax cuts in exchange for extending federal unemployment insurance. The plan also would cut the payroll tax by 2 percentage points.
Obama said he would accept a lower rate for the estate tax than Democrats wanted in order to break the stalemate.
Without the compromise, middle-income families would become “collateral damage for political warfare here in Washington,” Obama said. He said he still believes the nation can’t afford to permanently extend the top tax rates.