Jan. 2, 2013 | President Obama is casting the fiscal cliff deal as a fulfillment of his campaign pledge to ask for more in taxes from the wealthiest 2 percent, while Mitch McConnell is boasting that 99 percent of his constituents won’t be hit with tax increases. How can that be? As with so much in the fiscal cliff—er, fiscal crisis—negotiations, it’s a matter of semantics. Here's a rundown. There are good and bad things about the deal. Related: The payroll tax break expires today. For workers earning $50,000 a year, that means about $20 a week will be slashed from take-home pay. Read more here.