Why did the Republicans go along so easily on the payroll tax deal?

[Ted King]

rajiv123 wrote:
There is the traditional 10% of income but that becomes a little muddy if a significant portion of your income comes in the form of self investing stock dividends. In that case a person might show a very high income level on paper but would not actually have the cash on hand without liquidating stocks, which isn't always possible. So the way a person calculates the 10% (if they adhere to that) can be complex.

I thought that if they don't liquidate the stocks, then the value of the stocks isn't counted as income for tax purposes. And if they get dividend payments from stocks then that is income isn't it? I was under the impression that it is income that is liable for income tax that people were comparing in this thread.