As of this writing, it’s difficult to speculate as to what U.S. income tax rates will be in the year 2013. This has become especially apparent due to the effect of the so-called “fiscal cliff” and the results of the November elections

The “fiscal cliff” is actually the result of the Budget Control Act of 2011, a law passed to stave off the crisis associated with the U.S. government reaching its debt ceiling (the maximum amount by law that the government is allowed to borrow). In order to persuade Congress to authorize additional increases in the debt ceiling, the Act imposed certain spending cuts and required that additional spending cuts be made by December 31, 2012. If those additional spending cuts are not made by the end of 2012, the so-called “Bush tax cuts” will automatically expire and Federal discretionary spending, both defense and non-defense, will automatically be cut through a process known as “sequestration.”