CNN Money reports today, “With income tax rates set to go up on Dec. 31, Congress is hotly debating what to do next. But most economists agree: Keep them where they are. . . . [A] majority of a panel of leading economists surveyed by CNNMoney.com said that the tax cuts should be renewed for everyone. . . . ‘Extend tax cuts for all income levels and do nothing else,’ said Sean Snaith, economics professor at the University of Central Florida. ‘More of the same piecemeal, patchwork policies put forth by this administration will undermine confidence and do little to change the path the economy is on.’”

This is just what Republicans in Congress have been calling for. Now is not the time to raise taxes on anyone. Preventing these tax increases would give job creators some badly needed certainty after all the turmoil the Obama administration’s policies have fostered.

More sensible Democrats are currently at odds with their leadership, who seem intent on raising some taxes. Because of these divisions, Democrats can’t seem to decide how to move forward, as Roll Call reported last Friday: “Even as they eye the exits, both House and Senate Democrats are struggling to create momentum in their own ranks for a pre-election debate on extending Bush-era tax cuts, and they are bickering over who should move first on the contentious issue. . . .[O]ne senior Senate Democratic aide said Senate leaders are waiting for [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi to signal what is possible in her chamber, given that she may not have the votes to pass a clean extension of middle-class tax breaks. ‘We can’t be totally at odds’ in which legislation comes to the floor, the senior aide said. Part of the problem is that neither House nor Senate Democratic leaders have solidified support in their respective caucuses for a specific approach.”

The approach to taxes here should really be obvious: simply extend all the tax cuts to prevent massive tax hikes in January. CNBC reports on a new poll taken last week that found “[a] majority of the respondents believe the Bush tax cuts should be extended, even for people making more than $250,000 a year. Fifty-five percent think increasing taxes on any Americans will slow the economy and kill jobs.”

Even President Obama seemed to know the best solution when he told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd last year, “[T]he last thing you want to do is to raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would just suck up — take more demand out of the economy and put businesses in a further hole.”

With a growing chorus of Democrats agreeing that “raising any taxes right now could negatively impact economic growth,” as 31 House Democrats wrote to Pelosi, a majority of Americans and most economists echoing that sentiment the solution is clear.

Related:

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