Biden confident on ending tax breaks for wealthy in 2012

Vice President Joe Biden is expressing confidence that Democrats can prevent another extension of tax cuts for the wealthy in two years.

The White House tax deal with Republicans that was signed into law Friday allowed an across-the-board extension of Bush-era tax cuts for two years.

Extending cuts for wealthy households was a major concession by President Obama and Democrats in return for an extension of unemployment insurance and other Democratic priorities.

Biden said the dynamic will be different in two years.

“We are not in a position ... where we are going to have, God willing, the shaky economy where we could not afford to continue uncertainty for a month or two or three in the next year had we not made a deal,” Biden said.

He said not extending the various tax cuts would have created uncertainty, risking a double-dip recession. Biden also noted the provisions, such as unemployment insurance, in the deal that benefits the low-income and middle class.

Biden called it “a compromise to save people who are drowning.”

“There are 2 million [people] this month that can’t afford to go get a Christmas tree, let alone buy any gifts,” he said.