Yarmuth says he'd be OK only raising taxes on those making more than $500k

U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, is holding out hope Congress can come to an agreement before the end of the year to avoid the fiscal cliff – a mix of mandatory spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts.

Unlike others, such as Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, Yarmuth said he doesn’t want to see Congress wait until after the first of the year to take up the tax issue. Murray has said Democrats might have a better chance to keep the cuts only for the middle class if the cuts are allowed to expire so Congress returns in January and votes to reduce the rates.

Yarmuth told Pure Politics he hopes Congress can deal with extending the Bush era tax cuts to the middle class and fight it out over income taxes on the highest earners – something he said could be done in January.

He also said he’d be open to raising the threshold for the cuts to those earning more than $500,000, which is what Warren Buffett suggested Monday, according to Politico.

“Where we can compromise is probably on the income threshold. I wouldn’t have a problem on saying we’re going to raise the rates on people making over half-a-million-dollars, 250,000 may be a little too low a number,” Yarmuth said Tuesday at a public event before leaving for Washington.

Yarmuth said either way passing a tax cut now or doing nothing that ultimately Congress will deal with part of the spending cuts and income tax deal and deficit reduction during the 2013 session.