This is why I tend to hate journalists so much: they're inveterate liars.
The mainstream media outlets are spinning the Republican-backed 'Tax Cut' bill as a reduction of taxes, but it plainly (on balance) does not cut anyone's taxes. Look at the headlines regarding the bill itself:
How Will the Obama Tax Cut Bill Affect You?
Reaction to Obama Tax-Cut Deal with Republicans
Obama has agreed to extend the Bush-era tax cuts, not cut them further. So would people please stop calling it a tax-cut? All the Obama administration has done is agreed to not cut the Americans' collective throats any deeper with more taxes. The whole point of calling this the Obama Tax Cut Deal is to not call it 'Obama Extends Bush Tax Cuts', because that would ascribe something positive to the former administration, which would undercut the Obama administration's need to shift all criticism onto the former president.
