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June 30, 2011 at 09:14 AM
President Barack Obama on Wednesday called for tax hikes as part of the deal needed to negotiate a deal to raise the debt ceiling. In particular, he called for an increase on levies for wealthy CEOs and hedge fund managers, whose taxes, he said, are “lower than they’ve been since the 1950s.”
Challenging Republicans to consider increases on the wealthy, as well as ending tax breaks for oil and gas companies, he said, “Everybody else has been willing to move off their maximalist position—they need to do the same.”
Pointing out that Democrats had already accepted spending cuts to programs they hold dear, Obama (above) said, “You can’t reduce the deficit to the levels that it needs to be reduced without having some revenue in the mix. And the revenue we’re talking about isn’t coming out of the pockets of middle-class families that are struggling. It’s coming out of folks who are doing extraordinarily well and are enjoying the lowest tax rates since before I was born.”
Obama also said that cuts without revenues meant cuts to programs that run the gamut from scholarships to food safety and the National Weather Service, all of which are important to people regardless of their political affiliation.
“And I’ve said to some of the Republican leaders,” he added, “you go talk to your constituents, the Republican constituents, and ask them are they willing to compromise their kids’ safety so that some corporate jet owner continues to get a tax break. And I’m pretty sure what the answer would be.”
