Extending the tax cuts that impact nearly every American household is a good move for today but simply pushes tough decisions to tomorrow.

President Barack Obama has taken much criticism from his own party for his compromise tax deal with Republicans, an agreement that will add about $700 billion to the already sky-high deficit.

But the Democrats aren’t particularly mad over taking on more debt. Their real ire stems from the fact that this plan left in place the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Never mind that it also prevented taxes going up on Jan. 1 for nearly every other taxpayer too, extended unemployment benefits for another year as well as lowered the overall payroll tax.

All these are important changes that will certainly offer some relief to many Americans who continue to struggle with finding jobs or finding ones that allow them to actually make ends meet.

We think the president is correct in compromising in order to enact this plan that will help so many during this still-down economy.

The problem is it does very little to address the actual problem — spending far more money than our country is generating — and simply postpones any meaningful conversation that could lead to actual changes.

The tax cuts are set to expire in two years but our elected officials must immediately begin creating a tangible plan.

There are really only two options: Cut services or grow revenues, which in almost every case means raising taxes.

These tax cuts may have strengthened the present, but we must make sure that it isn’t at the expense of our future.