WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) – Republican U.S. Senator Jim
DeMint, an independent-minded South Carolina conservative and a
major voice of the Tea Party wing of the party, said on Thursday
he will resign from the Senate in January to head the Heritage
Foundation, an influential conservative think tank in
Washington.

DeMint, often a thorn in the side of his own leadership in
Congress, publicly criticized Republican House of
Representatives Speaker John Boehner earlier this week for
offering revenue increases in the bargaining with Democrats over
the “fiscal cliff” of tax hikes and budget cuts set for the end
of the year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans may have some leverage in their fiscal cliffhanger with President Barack Obama: the threat of forcing a disproportionate number of Democrats to pay the so-called alternative minimum tax for the first time.

Under U.S. law, taxpayers each year must pay the greater of regular federal income tax and the AMT. The latter requires taxpayers to give up certain tax breaks, typically exemptions and deductions for state and local taxes and medical costs.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Negotiations on the looming “fiscal cliff” will dominate talk in Washington this month, with both the White House and congressional Republicans having made early offers.

Failure to find a compromise on urgent spending and tax issues that charts a safe path down from the cliff could result in another recession, economic studies have forecast.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Negotiations on the looming “fiscal cliff” will dominate talk in Washington this month, with both the White House and congressional Republicans having made early offers.

Failure to find a compromise on urgent spending and tax issues that charts a safe path down from the cliff could result in another recession, economic studies have forecast.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A growing number of Republicans in the House of Representatives – including a handful of Tea Party-backed conservatives – are signaling greater flexibility than their leaders to reach a “fiscal cliff” deal with President Barack Obama.

They are not buckling on demands to slash spending or agreeing with Obama’s exact proposals to avert across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts set to start on January 1.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Divisions among Democrats are undermining President Barack Obama’s push to raise the U.S. estate tax on inherited wealth, just weeks before the arrival of the “fiscal cliff” could drive the present estate tax rate even higher than Obama proposes.

Action on the estate tax could be postponed. But in his successful re-election campaign, Obama called for wealthy Americans to pay more in taxes – and it is overwhelmingly the wealthy who pay the estate tax.

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Divisions among Democrats are
undermining President Barack Obama’s push to raise the U.S.
estate tax on inherited wealth, just weeks before the arrival
of the “fiscal cliff” could drive the present estate tax rate
even higher than Obama proposes.

Action on the estate tax could be postponed. But in his
successful re-election campaign, Obama called for wealthy
Americans to pay more in taxes – and it is overwhelmingly the
wealthy who pay the estate tax.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some chief financial officers blitzing the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to lobby for low dividend tax rates suggested they might be able to stomach a small increase to pre-empt a huge jump due to kick in at year’s end if Congress does not act.

Finance chiefs from the biggest U.S. power companies – including Duke Energy Corp and Southern Co – were in Washington to meet top lawmakers looking for ways to avert a $600 billion “fiscal cliff” of taxes and spending cuts.

WASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) – Some chief financial officers
blitzing the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to lobby for low dividend
tax ra tes s uggested they might be able to stomach a small
increase to pre-empt a huge jump due to kick in at year’s end if
Congress does not act.

Finance chiefs from the biggest U.S. power companies -
including Duke Energy Corp and Southern Co – were
in Washington to meet top lawmakers looking for ways to avert a
$600 billion “fiscal cliff” of taxes and spending cuts.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Dick Durbin, a senior Senate Democrat and close ally of President Barack Obama, urged fellow liberals on Tuesday to consider reforming Medicare and Medicaid, the U.S. healthcare programs they have long fought to shield from spending cuts.

The timing of his message – just as Democrats and Republicans struggling to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” looming early next year – and its prominence may signal that Democratic leaders and the White House will discuss social programs at the fiscal policy negotiating table.