What the S&P said about taxes
From the S&P “downgrade” release (h/t TPM):
Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.
But this can’t be right. My “liberal” NYT didn’t say anything about taxes in its article on the downgrade this morning:
S.&P. did not advocate a specific mix of increased revenue and spending cuts. But it did say that overhauling entitlement programs was ‘key to long-term fiscal sustainability’ and that the debt deal ‘envisions only minor policy changes on Medicare.’
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