White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that “the presiden’t position has not changed” on raising taxes, despite the Senate Democrats changing the tax increases in President Obama’s jobs bill to only affect millionaires, because Obama regards his tax policies and spending proposals as relatively “fair and balanced.”
“Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans – those making over $250,000 are simply things that we can no longer afford,” Carney said. Referring to the Bush tax cuts, Carney added that “they are part of the reason why we have the tremendous deficits and debt that we have now and they should be allowed to expire.”
As Carney continued his defense of Obama’s preferred tax increases, he repeated Obama’s “fair share” meme.
“This is only about ensuring that as we make choices, because we do not have unlimited resources, that we make those choices in a way that is fair and balanced,” Carney said, “that everyone is paying their fair share.”
Carney then explained that Obama wants to raise taxes on the wealthy to fund government spending on behalf of, among others, teachers who face a layoff:
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, has criticized Obama’s proposal, saying that people making $250,000 “in many of our states . . .are not rich.”
You can see Carney discussing the tax increases below
