United States fiscal cliff

The United States fiscal cliff refers to the combined effect of several previously-enacted laws that came into effect simultaneously in January 2013, increasing taxes and decreasing spending. The Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, which had been extended for two years by the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, were scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012.

Source: Wikipedia — United States fiscal cliff (CC BY-SA 4.0)