By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says raising taxes on wealthiest Americans must be part of deficit reduction plan but says he is “open to compromise” and “new ideas.” Obama says he will refuse to accept any approach that “isn’t balanced.”
Obama says in his first public comments since the election that Congress should pass a bill that would prevent Bush-era tax cuts from expiring for all but the wealthiest Americans. He says lawmakers from both parties need to work together to tackle the nation’s fiscal problems.
The president says he is inviting congressional leaders of both parties to the White House next week for talks on how to avoid the fiscal cliff. Lawmakers face a Jan. 2 deadline to reach an agreement.
It’s the spending, not the taxing~!!!
No it’s the taxes
The richer you are the more you get “taken away” what encouragement is that for anyone to get out there and make something of themselves these days?
Much of the spending is due to Republican ideas. Whoever you want to blame for the bollucksing-up of the economy, cutting spending alone is not going to fix it.
The Republicans seem dead set on throwing everyone under the bus in protection of top 2% tax cuts. All that the President is suggesting is returning them to the rate they were under President Clinton….
is our goverment fking clueless You tax us u spent it on wtf ever u pkease I hv no say then you are gunna tax me more. This country is a fking joke. Polititian is a glorfied fuking salesmen of bsht
You wonder why there is no jobs there fkibg shipped out! Hello. so you hv less tax payers, so the few who wrk still hv job for now we got to mk it up. Joke, you polititians extort yr kids, promuse us the wrld u fkibg crooked pssys steal out fkung earned money. f all of u dem or rep.
And they steal your letters! I am libertarian primarily but there comes the time when everyone must pick up a shovel to fix something none of us broke. The two-party political dickering the last hundred plus years has been the cause. We need more, different, strong voices in government other than Bad Idea One and Bad Idea Two.
I doubt that anyone that posted here are part of “The wealthiest americans” so why is everyone complaining about them getting taxed?
No one here realizes that the tax bracket that the increases fall under I’m sure none of us here are even close to it! If you met how disgustingly wealthy some of these people are, you would not be opposed!
Tax away at the wealthy they get away with a lot of bs… Pay up or move to another country!!!
That’s right! Leave the country if you have so much hate!
Percentage-wise taxing should be equal across the boards. The wealthy receive more tax break than everyone else, so yes, their tax rate SHOULD rise, to balance things out. I have no problem paying my fair share, they shouldn’t either.
We need more spending for schools so our children don’t end up like Brian!!!!!
Why not raise corporate taxes? Why is it just personal income. I think the wealthiest should pay more but it seems to me that the people who fall into the 200-250000 category are small business owners who have to claim the income that their business earns as personal income. Corporations do not have to do that. Warren Buffet ( billionaire) has an annual income of 100000 a year. He earns his billions other ways. That means that he would be exempt from Obamas 200-250 increase. How do people like Buffet pay more? As I think they should.
There is no reason why a rich person should be in a lower tax bracket than their maid!! It’s just wrong!