Obama Stands Firm on Raising Taxes on the Wealthy
Posted at 9:45 a.m. on Nov. 15, 2012
President Obama delivered his first press conference since his reelection and signalled a firm stand on one of his key campaign promises: letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the top income tax bracket.
Financial Times: “Mr Obama said that much of the threat from the fiscal cliff would be removed if Congress were to pass a bill extending tax cuts for Americans earning less than $250,000 per year… Mr Obama has not made any concessions to Republicans ahead of the first round of negotiations and continues to push his latest budget proposal which contains $1.6tn of higher taxes, double what Republicans offered in closed-door talks last year.”
Ezra Klein sums up the state of the debate: “The White House’s position, in other words, is that if Republicans want to raise revenue while holding down rates by reforming the tax code, they have to show how they’re going to do it, prove that they’re willing to take the heat, and let it get scored by the Joint Tax Committee. If not, then tax rates are going up.”
