The "Bush Tax Cuts"

The media is starting to talk about what happens to these tax cuts at the end of this year, and is showing charts that depict their effect on the deficit into the next few decades if "Obama does not rescind them" in January. They are labelled as being the "Bush Tax cuts" well into 2030.

Obama and Congress are, of course, avoiding the subject like the plague until after the November elections, but that's another topic.

There are a few problems with all of that. Obama does not have to rescind them, they self destruct, as in all by themselves, as in expire. In order for them to continue he would have to actively renew them. In which case...

Come 2020 on your fancy charts which show the nation going down in flames due to these tax cuts, your label is inaccurate. Those tax cuts would be the "Obama Tax Cuts" at that point.

When Bush passes a tax cut you can blame Bush for it and call it the "Bush Tax Cut." I guess there is some legitimacy in continuing to call it that after Obama is in office, even though he could have reversed that tax cut once in office and decided not to do so. But when a tax cut is passed while Obama is in office it needs to bear his name. Labelling a tax cut which was signed into law by Obama as the "Bush Tax Cut" is carrying the blame game a bit too far.