Economic policy

Spain hiked its taxes on cultural events as it faces mounting debts and budget deficits. And those higher taxes have greatly reduced the attendance and theaters and other arts establishments. But one theater, and now several other groups, have found a way to make the law work for them — with carrots.

The efforts to avert the fiscal cliff started slowly but took on urgency over the past 72 hours. All signs point to a broad outline of a deal being reached, but it remains unclear whether both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate will be able to vote on it before the night is over.

If you’ve heard about the impending fiscal cliff America is heading toward, you’re probably wondering what barriers are in the way to stop us from hurtling over and if we shouldn’t manage that — what’s waiting for us at the bottom of the ravine.

After a couple months of wrangling, Congress has sent a bill to President Obama that extends through the end of the year payroll tax cuts, unemployment benefits and a fix in reimbursement rates for doctors doing work on Medicare patients.

Democrats are hoping to use the millionaire’s tax to push through an extension in President Barack Obama’s payroll tax cuts. So far, though, Republicans are resisting the idea of the millionaires tax, though they may be willing to use other means to keep the tax cut in place.