Tax increases on the rich … that’s what.  Permanent tax increases, and not much else.

If you doubted that the Republicans had any gonads based on their performance in the November election, this fiscal cliff charade should prove once-and-for-all that these Republicans had gonads the size of BBs, if at all.  To paraphrase one of my favorite little sayings …  If you took GOP balls and shoved them up an ants butt, they would rattle around like a BB in a boxcar. 

Let’s take a look at some of the of the legislation the GOP agreed to last night:

• Retains the 10 percent, 15 percent, 25 percent, and 28 percent income tax brackets from the Bush tax cuts permanently
• Retains the 33 percent and 35 percent income tax brackets from the Bush tax cuts for taxable income under $400,000 (single), $425,000 (head of household), and $450,000 (joint filers). Imposes  39.6 percent tax rate on income above this level.
• Phases out personal exemptions (PEP) for adjusted gross income over $250,000 (single), $275,000 (head of household) and $300,000 (joint filers)
• Limits itemized deductions for adjusted gross income over $250,000 (single), $275,000 (head of household) and $300,000 (joint filers)
• Capital gains tax and dividends tax will be 20 percent for taxpayers with income over $400,000 (single) and $450,000 (joint filers). This does not include the new 3.8 percent health care tax on investment income above $200,000 (single) and $250,000 (joint filers) in adjusted gross income, so the top rate for capital gains and dividends will be 23.8 percent. For lower income levels, the tax will be 0 percent, 15 percent, or 18.8 percent.
• Raises estate and gift tax to 40 percent, but above the current exemption level ($5.12 million) and adjusted for inflation in future years
• Extends emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) and extended benefits (EB) unemployment insurance program through January 1, 2014
• Postpones sequester by two months; will now occur on March 1, 2013
• Ends 2 percent payroll tax cut; taxpayers should expect greater FICA withholding from their next paycheck.

So once you count new ObamaCare taxes and state taxes, you are looking at top income tax rates in the mid-50% range, or potentially higher.  Meanwhile, these hacks in Washington felt it necessary to keep “spending” $12.1 billion to subsidize the wind industry and even $248 million for Hollywood producers in the form of tax subsidies. 

And that’s just “spending through the tax code,” as they like to say in Washington.  This deal also includes $330.3 billion in new spending over the next decade.  While it does manage to cut only $15 billion (laughable, right?), the agreement expects to gain the government $620 billion in additional revenue.  The Congressional Budget Office did the math on that … that a 41:1 ratio of tax increases to spending cuts.  Oh happy day!  Fiscal sanity has been restored!  Gag me.

At the end of the day, this fiscal cliff deal passed by the Congress still increases our deficit by nearly $4 trillion.  But let’s be honest, these tax increases have never, ever been about deficit reduction and always been an obsession of Obama and the Democrats to stick it to these evil rich people.  It’s about class warfare.  It’s about redistributing the wealth.

Zero Hedge has put these tax hikes compared to our budget deficit into a telling visual, which you can see if you click here.

So these Republicans agreed to spending increases and tax hikes.  If the Republicans do not even have fiscal conservatism on their side -- and that’s become a stretch -- then what does that leave them with … the social conservative policies that led to their failures in November?  Now THERE’S a party I want to be a part of!  (Sarcasm.)

The only “win” for Republicans politically (if you can even call it that) is sparing the taxpayers in the $250,000-$400,000 range from a tax increase.  Wow.  Way to go guys.  You really showed those Democrats who is boss.  At the end of the day, we still end up with one of the biggest tax increases in recent history AND spending increases.  Only in Washington is this considered an agreeable compromise.

Conservative Americans were already feeling down-and-out about the Republicans after the election, but this fiscal cliff agreement should really be the Republican nail in the coffin for many Americans.