White House officials insisted on Tuesday that the $955 billion they want to raise in new tax revenue over the next decade shouldn’t be seen as a tax hike, and instead should be seen as an attempt to make the wealthy pay their “fair share” by closing tax “loopholes.”
The White House released its 2017 budget plan on Tuesday, which claims to reduce the deficit by $2.9 trillion over the decade, largely through collecting more taxes on the wealthy and by expanding immigration in order to expand the tax base.
But a senior administration official told reporters that it’s unfair to characterize the $955 billion in new tax revenue as a tax hike.
“[W]e have a broad range of things that are closing loopholes that affect a narrow group of folks who are actually avoiding paying taxes at this point,” the official said.
“We often … get mischaracterized, that what we’re proposing is tax increases, when in fact that’s not accurate,” he added. “We do have proposals for higher income households to pay their fair share.”
“There is a broad set of proposals, but it really gets mischaracterized often as tax increases, as opposed to really, growth in the economy and loophole closers, other policy changes,” he said.
Obama’s formal budget document reads: “The Budget achieves more than $955 billion in deficit reduction from reducing tax benefits for high-income households, helping to bring in sufficient revenues to make vital investments while also helping to meet our promises to seniors.”
Despite the attempt to reduce the deficit, the White House acknowledged that the annual budget deficit will increase over the next decade, and will almost hit $800 billion by 2026.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in January that the budget deficit will actually be more than 50 percent higher that year, at $1.37 trillion.
