You ask a good question G. The phraseology is that this committee must deal with the deficit which, by definition, includes consideration of tax increases.
However, I don't know how else they could do it. I must suppose both sides are hoping that the political climate is such that it will be beneficial to their side....ie the Dems to tax the millionaires and billionaires and the pubs to avoid any tax increases.
frankly this seems fair enough to me. I'm still enchanted by the Tea Party crew in the House and I seriously doubt they'll cave on any big tax increases. I give this part of the deal a thumbs up.
Further, I know I risk wrath here, but my initial feeling is that this is a pretty good deal for the pubs. The one big thing they gave up was agreeing to take this whole discussion off the table after the beginning of 2012, ie well before the election. This was a big deal for Obamer. He didn't want to be in the situation he's in now, which he's handled horribly...his disapproval now up to 50%-he goes down slow like the Terminator but he goes down. By me, the pubs got an overwhelming advantage to win the next election and losing this talking point won't hurt them much. Not that the pubs use talking points to their advantage at any rate.
I note, with my very open mind, that the Dems gave up on raising taxes, which they should have give me a break. Yeah they're keeping it open with that committee thing but I made my arguments that we can live with this.
It's all been very interesting and at the end of the day I think more damage was done to the Dems and Obama over all this than the Repubs, never mind what the media says.
The guy fighting to keep the hands of others out of your pockets generally rules the roost.
I guess the fairest thing to do is wait until there is an agreement and then see what they do.