Should-Read: Paul Krugman: Schroedinger’s Tax Hike

Should-Read: Yes, it’s a grift. The only question is: who inside the Republican coalition is being grifted here?

Paul Krugman: Schroedinger’s Tax Hike: “The Senate bill… tries to be long-run deficit-neutral… by offsetting huge corporate tax cuts with higher taxes on individuals…

By 2027 half the population, and most of the middle-class, would see taxes go up. But those tax hikes are initially offset by a variety of temporary tax breaks…. Republicans are arguing that those tax breaks won’t actually be temporary…. But they also need to assume that those tax breaks really will expire in order to meet their budget numbers.

So the temporary tax breaks need, for political purposes, to be both alive and dead…. For now, they want to hold it all in suspension. Once upon a time you wouldn’t have imagined they could get away with it. Now…