The first time President Barack Obama tried to revise the tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush, he had to settle for a compromise with Republicans in Congress. Obama wanted to extend the rates for lower incomes and repeal them for the wealthy. Republicans wanted to extend them for everybody.
Obama relented in December 2010, agreeing to a two-year extension of all rates. That timetable ran out as the nation neared the fiscal cliff. On Jan. 1, 2013, Congress passed and Obama signed a law permanently extending the Bush-era rates on incomes below $450,000 for families and $400,000 for individuals.
That income threshold is higher than Obama wanted -- he sought limits of $250,000 and $200,000 respectively -- but the effect is the same for middle- and lower-income Americans: their lower tax rates are permanent. We rate this a Promise Kept.
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← Back to Extend the Bush tax cuts for lower incomes
Lower rates are permanent, thanks to fiscal cliff
Our Sources
Text of H.R. 8 (fiscal cliff bill), Jan. 1, 2013
House Republican Conference, summary of H.R. 8, Jan. 1, 2013
Washington Post, "Wonkbook: Everything you need to know about the fiscal cliff deal," Jan. 1, 2013