Pelosi, Kagen, Moore, Baldwin, Kind, & Obey: "Amateur Hour"

Running away from Washington to campaign for re-election is not unusual.

But it IS unusual to leave major across-the-board tax questions unanswered.

(And leaving DC without passing a budget has never, ever, been done before. Different topic, same sludge-eaters.)

But that's the (D) way: Run away, cover your head, and repeat loudly: "I Can't HEAR You!!"

With about 10 weeks left, it is growing increasingly likely that the Bush tax cuts will expire without any action being taken, business owners and tax advisers say.

That has people fuming, not because the tax cuts will go away, but because elected leaders failed to provide any clear direction as to what actions companies and individuals need to take to prepare to do business in the coming year.

"It's amateur hour in Washington," said Cliff Anglewicz...

Thus, we have a "flip-the-coin" situation.

"The best I can tell people is, 'Here's what we know right now, and if this comes to pass, here's what you should do.' But the rules could change after it's too late to do anything about it," said Tim Steffen, senior vice president and financial and estate planning director for Robert W. Baird & Co.

For most people, tax planning is not nearly as critical as payroll systems issues. And Pelosi, Kind, Kagen, Moore, and Baldwin ran away without settling those issues, either.

"There's at least something in there that impacts every single person, and that is the change in the overall tax brackets," Steffen said. "The lowest bracket today is 10%. That bracket would disappear and it would go to 15%. Everybody from the bottom income levels up would feel that."

But payroll systems have to be updated to hit you for the new rate, if there is one. Usually, Internal Revenue sends out the change notices by mid-November. But no action on the tax question is expected--at ALL--during November.

And that bottom bracket is not the only change. The child tax-credit changes, too.

If those tax cuts expire, you can burn another ObambiPromise, by the way. The tax increase will slam the bejabbers out of people earning FAR less than $250K.

Curious that the JS article didn't mention those effects, eh? Let's review:

Let's say that you earn $60K--in other words, you work as a plant employee at Harley-Davidson. And let's assume that you have 2 children.

You'll get $180.00 LESS EVERY MONTH after taxes.

But if your wife also works--say, as a customer-service professional, and earns $40K, you'll pay the Feds $335.00 more every month.

That's what the Pelosi-Kagen-Moore-Baldwin-Kind-Obey disappearing act may cost you.