Obama: Let's Increase the Easy R & D credit to 17%

President Obama has proposed increasing the "simple" form of the research and development credit from 14% to 17%. Obama called for a permanent extension of the credit, stating that the credit could help in developing more high-paying jobs. Obama also continued to press for extending the Bush-era tax cuts only to middle-income Americans, claiming that extension of the cuts was too important to let disagreements about whether tax cuts should continue for wealthy taxpayers to delay the extension.

Is this the right route to go? I am not sure--while encouraging research is a good thing, does this simplify the tax code or not? On the other issue, I am inclined to favor Minority Leader Boehner's (R-OH) call for a two-year universal extension of the "Bush" tax cuts.