President Obama Proposes Tax Hikes For The Rich
SOUTHFIELD (WWJ/AP) - President Barack Obama set up another clash with Republicans on Monday by proposing $1.5 trillion in new taxes aimed primarily at the wealthy as part of a $3 trillion package to shrink the U.S. national debt.
Obama's plan has little chance of passing Congress, where Republicans control the House of Representatives. Republicans staunchly oppose tax increases and want greater spending cuts to reduce America's debt.
Congress' senior Republican, House Speaker John Boehner, has said no such legislation will pass the House.
The populist pitch in Obama's speech, however, could offer political benefits ahead of next year's elections. The plan could appeal to Americans, many of whom believe the deficit cannot be reduced by spending cuts alone, according to some polls. It also could energize Obama's fellow Democrats, who have been clamoring for the president to take tougher positions against Republicans.
"We can't just cut our way out of this hole," the president said in a speech at the White House. He noted that he is among the millionaires who should face higher tax rates than the middle class and said: "It's only right we ask everyone to pay their fair share."
Obama's recommendation to a joint congressional committee served as a sharp counterpoint to Republican lawmakers, who have insisted that tax increases should play no part in taming the nation's escalating national debt. The new taxes predominantly would hit wealthy Americans, ending their Bush-era tax cuts and limiting their deductions.
At a bus stop in Southfield, WWJ's Mike Cambell asked some Metro Detroiters what they think of the President's plan.
"The taxes for the rich is the lowest it's been in years ... and they still haven't did no hiring for the last 10 years," said Billy Foster of Detroit. "They've been laying people off in droves, so I think that that's the best policy that Obama could come up with," he said.
Another Detroiter, Roosevelt Knight, agreed that the President might be onto something.
"If the millionaires and the billionaires got the money to help out, yes they should help out. Because so many people are suffering, the people on rowboats ... they're on yachts," Knight said.
The core of the president's plan totals just more than $2 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. It combines the new taxes with $580 billion in cuts to mandatory benefit programs, including $248 billion from Medicare, the health insurance program for the elderly. It also counts savings of $1 trillion over 10 years from the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The administration also counts savings of $1 trillion over 10 years from the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
- More on this story from CBS News -
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
