Doesn't seem that way to me, but that's the way the Washington Post bills it.
Congressional Republicans have offered to increase tax revenue by nearly $300 billion over the next decade through an overhaul of the tax code, a significant concession aimed at breaking a long-standing impasse in negotiations over the federal debt.
The offer envisions a tax code rewrite that would lower rates for everyone while raising overall tax collections by $250 billion, mainly by limiting the value of itemized deductions such as write-offs for home mortgage interest, state and local taxes and other expenses.
Seems to me this "offer" targets the martyred middle class of America by limiting write-offs that ease the pain of a tax rate that's hardly fair to begin with compared to cumulative breaks allowed to upper income taxpayers. And I don't think tougher, fairer rates for the wealthy is what the Republicans have in mind here.
And by way of a payback, they want to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
If I were on the supercommittee, I'd throw that deal right back at them.
