Pat Dollard

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to take up legislation in September to address the tax cuts passed under President George W. Bush.

Senior Democrats had expected the controversial issue to be postponed until after the election, when a fiscal responsibility commission appointed by President Obama is due to release its recommendations.

nstead, Democrats will debate the highly contentious issue of whether to extend more than $3 trillion in tax cuts passed under Bush before Election Day.

The tax cuts, which include reductions of the marginal income and capital gains tax rates and repeal of the estate tax, are due to expire at the end of the year.

“I expect it to be on the floor in September,” said Reid spokesman Jim Manley.

Manley declined to discuss the details of the upcoming tax package.

The Senate is expected to act on the question of extending the Bush-era tax cuts before the House does.

Some Democratic senators have argued for extending all of the income tax cuts, including rate reductions for members of the highest tax brackets. They argue it would be dangerous to increase taxes for any income earners while the national economy struggles to recover from recession.

Sen. Kent Conrad (N.D.), a senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said last month that he could support a short-term extension of the Bush tax cuts for the highest income earners.

He noted that experts predict continued economic weakness over the next 18 to 24 months.

“My reaction would be don’t cut spending, don’t raise taxes, and that would mean on anyone,” he said.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said at the end of June that he had not given much thought to extending the Bush tax cuts.

The House has also discussed extending the tax cuts.

Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over taxes, told The Hill last month that some of his Democratic colleagues have discussed the idea out of fear of impeding the nation’s economic recovery.