Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist says technically lawmakers didn't violate their anti-tax pledge by voting in favor of the fiscal cliff deal, which increases tax cuts on households earning more than $450,000 annually.
He argues that because the Bush tax cuts expired the day before the vote, legislators were essentially cutting taxes by supporting the new bill that passed in the Senate and House on January 1.
“It’s technically not a violation of the pledge, but I understand why a lot of Republicans had said, look, even though what’s happening is the tax cuts disappear and we’re restoring them for most people, so we’re not raising taxes. We’re actually cutting taxes,” Norquist told Anderson Cooper.
“They need to be able to say with a straight face they fought to protect those tax cuts for everyone and all the Republicans in the House have done that more than once, and that they’re fighting to oppose any and all tax increases, period.”
