Politics
Obama: No ‘fiscal cliff’ deal without higher tax rates on rich
U.S. President Barack Obama (r) shakes hands with Speaker of the House John Boehner (l) during a meeting with bipartisan group of congressional leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on November 16, 2012 in Washington, DC. PHOTO/Getty Images/Olivier Douliery
U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday avoiding an economic plunge over the “fiscal cliff” comes down to Republicans’ realizing that tax rates must go up on wealthiest Americans.
“We’re not going to be able to get a deal without it,” he said.
The president said he would consider lowering rates for the top 2 percent of earners next year as part of a broader tax overhaul effort that closes loopholes, limits deductions and finds other sources of revenue.
“It’s possible that we may be able to lower rates by broadening the base at that point,” Obama said in an interview with Bloomberg Television Tuesday.
The remarks, which reiterated a position that White House officials have expressed privately, is designed to give Republicans an opportunity to lower rates for the rich, but only after they rise at year’s end when Bush-era tax cuts expire.
Later, however, White House spokesman Jay Carney left open the possibility that the rate would not have to rise to 39.6 percent, the rate in place during the administration of President Bill Clinton.
Obama’s remarks came a day after Republicans proposed a “fiscal cliff” plan that revives ideas from failed budget talks with Obama last year, calling for raising the eligibility age for Medicare, lowering cost-of-living hikes for Social Security benefits and bringing in US$800 billion in higher tax revenue.
