Buried in this Friday story on Obama’s future plans is a curious statement, attributed to White House Budget Director Peter Orszag, which didn’t get nearly enough attention:
Orszag has said the spending blueprint, for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, 2010, would put the nation “back on a fiscally sustainable path” and suggested it would include a mix of spending cuts and new revenue-producing measures.
“New revenue-producing measures.” In other words, more tax increases — increases beyond the dozen or so that are already planned in the health care reform package.
President Obama’s advisors understand that they have to counter the perception that deficit spending is out of control. But that doesn’t mean Americans want to pay higher taxes. President Obama might think he earns points by advocating fiscal prudence in next year’s budget debate, but we all know what happened in the last midterm election after a president pushed a tax-hiking budget through Congress.
