The White House just put out a new report titled: THE MIDDLE-CLASS TAX CUTS’ IMPACT ON CONSUMER SPENDING & RETAILERS.

The argument of The White House has been: At least we can all agree to freeze middle-class taxes, while we debate taxes on the rich.

Of course, the GOP wouldn't go for that, as as soon as taxes on the rich are isolated, then there's no leverage to fit them getting hiked.

So the politics of this are clear, but the report is actually pretty good in terms of charts and economics.

For example, this useful chart shows where sentiment is, and how much it got slammed by the Debt Ceiling fight of 2011, an episode everyone should be keen to avoid repeating.

More interesting is this chart, which estimates the hit to various industries should the Bush tax rates lapse.

The point: Pretty much everyone should be freaked out by a middle class tax hike.

The whole report can be downloaded here (.pdf).