Obama says he 'won't compromise' on taxes
REDFORD, Mich. (AP) - President Barack Obama warned Monday that he "won't compromise" on his demands that the wealthiest Americans pay more in taxes, digging in on the chief sticking point between the White House and Republicans as they seek a way to avert the "fiscal cliff."
Obama brought his pressure-Congress campaign to the heart of industrial America, ripping lines from his own re-election bid as the nation inched closer to a perilous economic cliff. He said the country couldn't afford a "manufactured" crisis and pledged to cheering auto workers that he would fight to extend tax cuts for the middle class before they expire at year's end.
"That's a hit you can't afford to take," Obama declared.
Obama's campaign-style trip to Michigan came one day after he and House Speaker John Boehner met privately at the White House. While neither side would characterize the meeting, the mere fact that the two leaders talked face-to-face was seen as progress in negotiations to avoid a series of year-end tax hikes and spending cuts.
Republicans have long opposed Obama's call for higher tax rates on the wealthy, but some GOP lawmakers are suggesting the party relent on taxes in order to win concessions from the president on changes to benefit programs such as Medicare. Still, Boehner's office indicated Monday that the speaker wasn't ready to take that step.
"The Republican offer made last week remains the Republican offer," said Brendan Buck, a Boehner spokesman. He was referring to a GOP plan that offered $800 billion in new revenue over the next decade through reducing or eliminating unspecified tax breaks on upper-income earners, but not by raising tax rates.
Obama brought his pressure-Congress campaign to the heart of industrial America, ripping lines from his own re-election bid as the nation inched closer to a perilous economic cliff. He said the country couldn't afford a "manufactured" crisis and pledged to cheering auto workers that he would fight to extend tax cuts for the middle class before they expire at year's end.
"That's a hit you can't afford to take," Obama declared.
Obama's campaign-style trip to Michigan came one day after he and House Speaker John Boehner met privately at the White House. While neither side would characterize the meeting, the mere fact that the two leaders talked face-to-face was seen as progress in negotiations to avoid a series of year-end tax hikes and spending cuts.
Republicans have long opposed Obama's call for higher tax rates on the wealthy, but some GOP lawmakers are suggesting the party relent on taxes in order to win concessions from the president on changes to benefit programs such as Medicare. Still, Boehner's office indicated Monday that the speaker wasn't ready to take that step.
"The Republican offer made last week remains the Republican offer," said Brendan Buck, a Boehner spokesman. He was referring to a GOP plan that offered $800 billion in new revenue over the next decade through reducing or eliminating unspecified tax breaks on upper-income earners, but not by raising tax rates.
Ever read the book "The Emperor Has No Clothes"?
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He doesn't have a plan. He keeps telling us the GOP won't give him an acceptable plan. We didn't elect them to lead - we elected you. Where is your plan?
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After 5-years, where is the President's plan? Presidents - leaders - in past years have always had their own plans.
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Where is "the" president's plan????
 @sentryone Where is Boehner's "plan"? What specific tax deductions has he offered as his $800B/10 yr offer?
Mr. President -Â tell Warren Buffet to pay the ONE-Billion dollars owed in back taxes since 2009.
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Mr. President - tell your cabinet members to pay their $33-million in back taxes.
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Lastly, terminate the 18-White House staffers that owe a combined ONE-billion dollars in back taxes and hire Americans that obey the law.
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When you do these things, then return to the White House and get to work like a real President. Stop flying around, stop the campaigning. Americans elected a leader to represent all; to compromise, to work on their behalf. Now get to work and stop preaching. This is not the Chicago community. It's the United States - you're in the big league where you actually have to represent all of America.
@sentryone Do you believe every internet rumor you read, or just most of them?
 @justmyopinion  @sentryone Only the ones he can claim as a "deduction"...
All I want to know is, where is your line in the sand? Americans always talk tough about kickin butt but never get off the couch. Clinton gave you NAFTA and Repealed Glass Steagal and created the OTC derivatives scam. Bush gave us the American Dream Down Payment Act, tax cuts for the rich, started the war on Freedom, attacked two countries, turns the US into a torture country. Obama comes along and deepens the war on Freedom, keeps the bush wars going, opens up a new detention center for torture, bails out numerous mismanaged corporations, continues the obvious disregard for our Constitution, lays your SSI and medicare on the table for negotiations and sure as I sit here will lose them to privatization.
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I just want to know how far you wimps are willing to back up before you ever put a stop to it. I've watched our jobs be outsourced for decades, watched as your benefits were taken away from your families, watched your wages go down while prices climb, watched this country fall into disrepair, poverty climb, a smaller percentage of people working since 1929, watched your elected corrupt politicians lie to you and get off scot free from the damage done, lie to you while murdering innocent families in the wars on "terror" and "Drugs". etc.etc.
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If they lie and murder innocent people from other countries, what makes you think they are above lying and murdering our own kids in these phony wars that were always just to keep the military industrial complex happy and take your freedom?
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Where is your line in the sand? Just what exactly will it take for the average US citizen to stand up and protect our constitution, country, and families? Thats what I want to know.
What difference does it make raising taxes on the wealthy when the wealthy use loopholes and hide their wealth out of the country so they don't have to pay their fair share anyway?
@jowsuf  Google his good friend, supporter, and platform speaker Warren Buffet. He has owed back taxes since Obama was elected and yet - the IRS is not allowed to seize his business.
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Todate - over ONE Billion dollars owed not including interest and penalties
"Excuse me, mister president, the campaign is over now. You can stop giving speeches and start leading."
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"......any time now....."
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"No pressure. Not as if anything important is about to happen..."
 @acepaul he's trying to lead. We just need the GOP to get on board
So lemmee see if I understand. For 35 years we export our good jobs, create a credit/housing bubble, cause a "financial crisis", elect a guy that hires 11 goldman sachs employees for his administration, insist that we bail out the perpetrators of the crisis, start trickling in a few low pay jobs with no benefits, and then give them our SSI and Medicare that we've been paying into while giving the rich a tax break.
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It seems like they share in the prosperity and we share in the bills. Can somebody tell me why we haven't got rid of every last one of these guys yet and if not yet, when?
@T_BONE_WALKER You are right on. All my jobs have been given to me by homeless people and I have a few friends that went to factories started by and still owned by the poor.
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Get rid of the rich - they have never helped anyone out.
 @T_BONE_WALKER Four years from now? The sheep have spoken. Let's hope he doesn't give our country away in the few years he has left..........
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When has he compromised on anything ?Â
 @Maynard G Krebbs Too often.
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He has been saying the whole time that he won't compromise on that. Good for him too. We need higher tax rates for the wealthy and reduced spending in entitlement programs. It's gotta go both ways.
 @virtual anomaly higher rates on the wealthy doesn't even come close to closing the deficit spending of Obama. His budgets don't even get Senate Democrat votes. let all the taxes go up . But don't forget all peoples taxes are going up on JAN 1 anyway because of Obama care taxes and fees.Â
Obama all talk, no show.
I think it's apparent, that in the end, the U.S. citizens will be screwed,
How does Jay-Z and Beyounce feel about that! Cut spending!
@justsayin dude do not sayin please
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@pbs7mm for one thing I can tell you must be uneducated learn how to use spell check, on the other hand you are a bitter old person grow up.
 @pbs7mm It looks like you should open a bank account in the Cayman Islands.
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Why is this news?
Obie doesn't compromise on anything.
The great thing about America is our differences but in the end we historically have made it work. Do I like the directions the democrats or republicans are taking our country? NO WAY. We should have higher taxes on those that can afford it but we should also stop being a welfare state. Our two parties have taken the extremes versus finding the common ground. America did not elect Obama, Americans did, and some Americans did not vote for Obama. With the extremes that our political leaders are leading us, the divide between Americans will grow more and more. With the press leading us down these differences for their own monetary gains as everyone watches TV and the TV advertising making bundles of money during the Christmas shopping period it begs to ask how much of this is real and how much of this is reality TV boosting their own ratings so investors buy more add and so on and so on.
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But, the one person that the majority of Americans have put their faith in is not doing his part. He was reelected to lead this country out of these problems but all he is doing is making more problems. He is playing his childish game of making himself out to be the hero so he can don his cape and lead us all to salvation. The problem is he is 4 years too late wasting his true hero powers with the senate and congress behind him that he had 4 years ago. He did not need hero vision then to tell that the economy was a bigger problem then healthcare but he remained blinded. He has truly become a false profit who is leading this country more apart than any president before him. He needs to take off the cape and put on his big boy pants and get serious about fixing our problems. He can not do this by ignoring the other Americans. He can not do this by running away from the problems to his sources of power that reelected him. His is getting nothing done by hanging out in these lairs of his. He needs to be in Washington leading not running away. He needs to work with both parties and not dictate. He needs to be the president that got elected and reelected not the boy in the candy store. He could have been so much more than the leader before him that was guilty of the same things Obama is doing now. Bush did not fix anything but Bush was not reelected. This is the Obama administration now. I just hope Obama figures that out soon.
@Beam_Me_Up Fact check: Bush WAS re-elected. The anti-muslim wave of military imperialism got him his second term.
 @virtual anomaly  @Beam_Me_Up You are right, Bush was reelected 8 years ago and he did nothing with it that I can say was positive for the country. But, Obama was just reelected a month ago. He is now in charge (again). I don't care about Bush anymore, he is not our president. I care about where Obama is taking us and right now I don't like where that is going.
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So thank you for the fact check though unneeded. I know it gave you a chance once again to bring up Bush but what is that going to do today to fix our problems? You can beat a dead horse all you want but it ain't going to get up and finish the race. We have a live horse now but he keeps running away to where he is loved, to where the democrats' programs are the strongest just so he can feel loved. He needs to be in D.C. at the White House and at the Capital building to solve these issues, not on the pulpit making speeches to adoring fans, not creating talking points that only play over and over again on the news. He needs to be leading for that is why he got reelected in the first place. But it seems the democrats are happier with him out of pocket when the nation needs him the most in the trenches being the leader and getting the work done. I think all that the democrats want is just to see him back out stumping for the election he already won. But then again that may be the safest place for the country, for him to be away.
but nice rant though.
@Beam_Me_Up Hey don't pigeon-hole me as some die-hard democrat. I would say I hate both parties with a passion. But the thing I hate most about our country is American imperialism: of that BOTH parties are guilty.
@Beam_Me_Up Ok, so my neighbor works really hard setting up his business and has a nice car. I work 40 hours a week and partied my way through college. I am so mad he worked so hard, I going to go steal his car. He can afford another one. It's mine, I live in the USA I deserve it!
Not nearly enough taxes on the wealthy. 34% up to 39%? Thats a joke. At the least make it 5% a year hike for the next 8 or 9 years. That will put us back to the level it was in the 70's when things were booming. Increased taxes are not going to hurt jobs, it never has before and there's no reason to think it will now. The only difference is the elites have made it easier to be mobile so they can bypass taxes. And the middle class get too many deductions too. Why should anyone get a tax deduction for a house or to have more kids? Both should have absolutely nothing to do with taxes.
 @Blindman You are so full of it.Gas prices were through the roof , inflation any where from 6 % to 13%.
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rates as high as 21% and high Unemployment.Its obvious you did not live through that period.Â
"Oh no, President Obama won't compromise on tax hikes for America's most fiscally successful people! What a power-hungry tyrant!"Â
Honestly, you guy's are a hoot. I thought seeing your candidates lose twice in a little over four years would send you back to your doomsday bunkers but alas, here you are, defending the Republican party's self-interested and self-serving a**es. I'm pretty sure America voted to re-elect the candidate who has repeatedly voiced that he plans to raise the taxes on the wealthiest 2%: We've spoken our minds and yet, there they are, outright denying and blatantly rejecting the majority desire of the people they were elected to serve.Â
@windtreeman Obviously, you forgot about 2010.
@justsayin ummmmâ¦â¦ this is 2012 and 2013 is coming fast with 2014 right after it.
 @justsayin  @windtreeman "you forgot about 2010."
Wish we could...an election that accomplished absolutely NOTHING!
When will he stop campaining?
 @Hank When will he stop spending to "get us out of debt"?...Sounds like my wife's logic....it was on sale so I spent $x.xx....but I saved you $x.xx!!
This much drama over an unfunded tax cut that was set to expire years ago? Why are we focusing on this stuff when there are real fiscal issues out there to deal with?
 @T_BONE_WALKER That's only one aspect of the Fiscal Cliff.  The other aspects are automatic huge cuts in the military, medicare, and another 1000 government programs, all designed to be horrible to both camps and basically shove us back into the depression.  The idea was the cuts would be so bad that the two sides would really want to work together to keep them from occurring.
Did you all know there is a hidden medical tax for all employed a business has to pay for us in the heath care act average 65.00 more for each person, How can he say he didn't Tax the middle class.
Obama needs to put up spending cuts or plan on going over the cliff.  This was the deal during the sequestration and there are no negotiations for higher taxes without the spending cuts. A deal is a deal.
@heyjoe NO deal just go over the (cliff) and go back to Clintons tax rates where everyone did well, then let the congress work on the details and see which side is for the people and which side is for the special interest.
 @heyjoe He has said he's all for spending cuts, as long as higher taxes on people earning more than $250,000 was involved as well.  Unfortunately, the other side is refusing to compromise one bit, they will ONLY accepts cuts and nothing else.
I love the fact that even now the republican party is doing everything in it's power to turn the american public off! Did we not just vote for Obama??? Did we not just send Romney and his funny math out to pasture? Did we not state we need spacifics? Are they still saying "we can find it, but let's not raise taxes"? My big question is, if they can raise 800 billion by closing loop holes, for god's sake, do it!! But we are still going to need to raise taxes, so either help our president or get out of his way!
 @Julie Did we not just vote for an overwhelming Republican majority in the house? Last I checked, Obama was not elected King/Emperor/Tyrant, he was elected President.Â
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Even if raising taxes would raise 1.6 trillion in 10 years, the government would still be running deficits of more than 1 trillion per year. It isn't tax revenues that are the problem, it is the spending.Â
 @Fugonn  @Julie Kind of. Democrats gained 11 seats in the house despite Republican gerrymandering. I guess you could call that overwhelming; I wouldn't. In any case the polls show average Americans are OK with raising taxes on the rich. Why shouldn't the rich pay a bit more considering how much they have benefited from the prosperity of the whole of America which includes all of the rest of us.
 @OrcasThunder  @aintno1special  @albion  @Fugonn  @JulieÂ
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I find it to be a true statement. While yes his budget increases have been less than other presidents in history, but taking into consideration the financial times our country and the world have been in in the past 5+years I'd say increasing spending (and asking for another debt ceiling raise) with no sign or plan to reduce spending is by most accounts absurd. (mind you I don't blame Obama for where we are...just I don't see his current methods doing anything to create a long term solution)
I can begin and really end on the "Obama-care" subject. This was voted down by house and senate and pushed through by the President. I have not taken the time to read this plan cover to cover, but the amount that I have read (I'd estimate it to be roughly half) is concerning and still has no clearly defined measure of funding...
 @aintno1special  @albion  @Fugonn  @Julie "What I was saying that if you "close it" for the top 10% you would have to close it for the rest of the 90%."
Actually, no - you do not. There are many tax issues that impact tax payers in selected brackets. For instance, taxpayers cannot deduct health related expenses that amount to less than a specific percentage of income. State sales taxes are only deductible by special actions by Congress. The mortgage interest is deductible on only the first $1 million of debt, and only on the primary house. And that is one reason why that deduction should remain on the books - if removed it would cost the average home owner thousands of dollars every year, while having a proportionally less impact on the upper income brackets because they often have homes that are worth far more than $1M.
Since you are a business owner, would you prefer a tax rate increase on ALL income over a specific amount...or an increase that removed that increase from personal small business related income? THAT would remove the major problem many see with the tax jumps impacting people who include their small business income in their personal return.
 @aintno1special  @albion  @Fugonn  @Julie "I was not trying to insult the president"
Saying "coming from a president that can not and will not reign in his spending is absurd." sure sounds like an intended insult...for one thing it is not a true statement.
 @OrcasThunder  @aintno1special  @albion  @Fugonn  @Julie What I was saying, as I said not very clearly granted (because I am not educated on all the loopholes and is why I pay an accountant), was that most if not all "loopholes" can be used by any tax payer that wants to. The term "loopholes" is by nature vague and generally carries a negative connotation. What I was saying that if you "close it" for the top 10% you would have to close it for the rest of the 90%. What this would do in reality is raise rates on all classes. Fact is only about 30% of tax payers itemize their deductions...but I would venture to guess the majority of those 70% that takes the standard deductions are griping about paying a higher tax rate than people that make more then them. Raising the rates on the top 10% will do very little to lower the debt. I liken it to putting a band-aid on a severed limb.
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I was not trying to insult the president, rather politics in general. When you have one side that wants to keep spending and raise taxes and the other that wants to cut spending and taxes you have quite a political conundrum...but as a business owner I see the solution somewhere in the middle.
 @aintno1special  @albion  @Fugonn  @Julie "when I extrapolate"
How did you do that? You touch on tax loopholes, saying "just need to close the loopholes. For the most part all of these loopholes are open to all tax payers," - but there are no specifics...just saying "remove the loopholes" is not a "plan"! It is simply another broad brush that lacks details. Are you saying we should remove the mortgage deduction, perhaps the one for charity? That would be SPECIFIC items. The broad brush says nothing.
As to "insulting" you by saying you bored me, you missed the point. You did not "bore" me...you made an unneeded remark insulting the President. - THAT is why you lost my interest. So, if you feel "insulted" because I did not like your insult to the President, so be it - you simply won't have a discussion of substance with me.
 @OrcasThunder  @albion  @Fugonn  @Julie Good my mission is now complete!
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First off you asked what I meant in my original post...then, when I extrapolate (perhaps not as clear as I could have been) you attempt to insult me by saying I bored you. Typical rhetoric from someone who attempt to make them self significant.
 @aintno1special  @albion  @Fugonn  @Julie Well, you accomplished 2 things with that post.
In the first paragraph you confused me as to what you were talking about.
In the first sentence you lost my interest in what you had to say.
 @OrcasThunder  @aintno1special  @albion  @Fugonn  @Julie I guess I should have said we just need to close the loopholes. For the most part all of these loopholes are open to all tax payers, but the tax laws are so confusing and ever changing it takes $$ to understand them and even more money to hire an accountant that can provide you an advantageous usage of them. I think a lot of them make sense, but as with everything when it comes to money they can be and often times are manipulated and abused.
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My point for my statement is that this pressure, saying we're going to just get more $$ from the ones that can afford it,coming from a president that can not and will not reign in his spending is absurd. Yes, I can afford to pay more, but consider for a second that between my business taxes and personal taxes I pay roughly .38 cents for every dollar I make directly to some government agency (this does not include the other business expenses this is purely tax) . Now Obama wants me to pay even more? Why would I continue to keep my doors open at that point? I know many who feel the same and are in the same financial situation as I am that they no longer need to operate.
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I think the part that has always been left out of this argument is the fact that typically the top 10% wage earners are the employers of many. My businesses employ a little more than 100 people, a big burden on me in my future plans. What I do will not only change my life, but will change the lives of those who work for my businesses and their families. If people think that employment is difficult to find now, just wait and see what will happen if this current administration get what they want.
 @aintno1special  @albion  @Fugonn  @Julie "we need to close some loop holes for all"
Like what?
 @albion  @Fugonn  @Julie I do not understand this "tax the rich" logic. The top 10% of wage earners have made 45% of the money...yet have paid 70% of the taxes...so those of us that make more than other should pay a higher %?...I agree with "Stock Woodie" in that we need to close some loop holes for all, not just the top 10%.
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Fact is I am in my 40's and have been blessed to do well in business...I have happily paid my taxes yearly (to me it say the more I pay the more I have made.)...that said I can close my doors tomorrow and live comfortably and no longer have to pay the 200K in taxes (or more if some deductions are eliminated). What most do not understand is that I know that I am not alone in this position. Start making it more expensive to do business and more difficult to be successful in the U.S.A. and what you will have is less business being operated in the U.S.A!
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Mainstream media will make the "rich" out to be the enemy to our society and reaping the benefits of ALL the "loopholes" designed for the wealthy...but the simple fact is; while we may pay a comparable or even a lower % of taxes...the top 10% of wage earners are paying at least 70% of the taxes.
 @albion  @Fugonn  @Julie Why should they pay more taxes? They earned it just like everyone else. I think a lot of loopholes should be closed for tax "breaks", but I don't think they should be taxed more than what are are being taxes now. It's not going to help the economy anyways. Why should I pay for other peoples healthcare?Â