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11 Facts About the Tax Debate

Summary: 
Unless the House of Representatives takes action before January 1, 2013, taxes will go up on 114 million middle-class families. Learn more about the debate and what's at stake for middle-class families.

Unless the House of Representatives takes action before January 1, 2013, taxes will go up on 114 million middle-class families. Nearly everyone in Washington agrees that’s a bad idea. That’s why President Obama is calling for -- and the Senate has already passed -- legislation that will keep the middle class from paying thousands of extra dollars next year.

Republicans in the House of Representatives, however, are refusing to extend middle-class tax cuts without also giving massive tax cuts to the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. In fact, House Republicans have proposed their own tax plan that would actually raise taxes on 25 million families making less than $250,000, while giving families making more than $1 million an average tax cut of $160,000 next year.

Here are 11 facts about the two plans and what's at stake for middle-class families.