Tax deal unlikely before election, says GOP Rep. Pete King

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) said Friday he doubts Congress will reach an agreement before November to extend some or all of the Bush-era tax rates. 

"I don't see any way it can be done before the election," King said in an interview with WOR's John Gambling. "I just don't, because both parties are dug in. [President] Obama, his campaign is based on the fact that he is going to let the tax cuts expire for the top 1 or 2 percent."

But King noted that Republicans haven't shown any sign of compromise either. 

Both the House and Senate have approved competing measures on the tax rates. Senate Democrats succeeded in passing an extension of the Bush-era rates for income up to $250,000 a year. House Republicans, meanwhile, approved legislation extending all the rates, including for families with income above $250,000 a year. 

Unless legislators come to some kind of agreement before the end of the year, the rates will expire for all income levels. 

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the top Democrat on a 2011 panel charged with finding a bipartisan compromise for deficit reduction, recently gave a strongly-worded speech suggesting it would be preferable to have no deal at all on taxes than a deal which spared the wealthy from higher rates.

"If we can’t get a good deal, a balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share, then I will absolutely continue this debate into 2013 rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle-class families under the bus," Murray said.

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