Fiscal Cliff Deal In House Limbo
By: Caroline Tucker
Updated: January 1, 2013
A fiscal cliff deal approved New Year's Eve in the Senate, hangs in limbo in the U.S. House.
Lawmakers can't agree on its terms.
Without a vote - a recession is expected to follow.
With the current Senate deal - taxes for most would stay the same - but people making $400,000 or couples making $450,000 or more will see a spike in the tax rate from 35 to 39.6%.
Education and tuition tax credits would continue.
Unemployment insurance would be extended 1 year for two.
With or without a deal, payroll taxes will go up for everyone starting this week - meaning the money you pay into Social Security will go up from 4.2-percent to 6.2-percent.
Congress has to figure out what to do about spending cuts that would reduce most agency budgets and programs by 8-percent.
A deal would temporarily delay those cuts two months.
"By waiting after the last minute, Congress puts itself in a position to say we rescued you from a tax increase, I don't think the average American will buy that we have been rescued from anything because Congress hasn't finished its job," said George Conboy, Brighton Securities president.
If the House makes any changes to the Senate's bill, it would have to go back to the Senate for a vote.
Lawmakers can't agree on its terms.
Without a vote - a recession is expected to follow.
With the current Senate deal - taxes for most would stay the same - but people making $400,000 or couples making $450,000 or more will see a spike in the tax rate from 35 to 39.6%.
Education and tuition tax credits would continue.
Unemployment insurance would be extended 1 year for two.
With or without a deal, payroll taxes will go up for everyone starting this week - meaning the money you pay into Social Security will go up from 4.2-percent to 6.2-percent.
Congress has to figure out what to do about spending cuts that would reduce most agency budgets and programs by 8-percent.
A deal would temporarily delay those cuts two months.
"By waiting after the last minute, Congress puts itself in a position to say we rescued you from a tax increase, I don't think the average American will buy that we have been rescued from anything because Congress hasn't finished its job," said George Conboy, Brighton Securities president.
If the House makes any changes to the Senate's bill, it would have to go back to the Senate for a vote.
