The fiscal cliff deal comes clearer: a 37% top tax rate and a higher Medicare eligibility age [View all]

Source: Wonkbook at WaPo

Something hilarious happened in the Senate on Thursday.

The White House has been pushing a plan to transfer authority for the debt ceiling to the executive. They call it the McConnell plan, because it’s based on an idea Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed in July 2011.

...

Talk to smart folks in Washington, and here’s what they think will happen: The final tax deal will raise rates a bit, giving Democrats a win, but not all the way back to 39.6 percent, giving Republicans a win. That won’t raise enough revenue on its own, so it will be combined with some policy to cap tax deductions, perhaps at $25,000 or $50,000, with a substantial phase-in and an exemption for charitable contributions.

The harder question is what Republicans will get on the spending side of the deal. But even that’s not such a mystery. There will be a variety of nips and tucks to Medicare, including more cost-sharing and decreases in provider payments, and the headline Democratic concession is likely to be that the Medicare eligibility age rises from 65 to 67.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/07/the-fiscal-cliff-deal-comes-clearer-a-37-top-tax-rate-and-a-higher-medicare-eligibility-age/

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Raising the Medicare age is stupid, but not the apocalypse (and if anything, having the Medicare and SS ages be the same makes some sense as long as we're still shackled with employer-supplied health insurance, but now they'll both be too high).

Anyways, signs that Congress might actually be working again inspires at least a little hope.