White House begins tax policy negotiations

President Obama and congressional leaders have begun negotiations over the national budget, including what the national tax policy will look like for the upcoming fiscal year. Obama is seeking an additional $1.6 trillion in revenue over the course of the next decade. It is a tall order that Republicans are unlikely to think very highly of, considering it is double the $800 billion initially proposed to Republicans in the summer of 2011. In a meeting on Tuesday with union leaders and other liberal activists, Obama reiterated his promise to raise taxes only on the wealthiest Americans, but he did not make specific comments on the subject of cutting back on government entitlement programs to contend with the deficit, indicating a possible willingness to negotiate on the issue. Republican House Speaker John Boehner has claimed that entitlement programs are the source of the budget deficit and that raising taxes is not the solution, though he has not specified a target budget goal. “New revenue must be tied to genuine entitlement changes,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell . There is indication that Republicans are willing to negotiate on taxes if it will avert scheduled spending cuts and tax increases due to take effect at year-end.