White House: No tax hike for middle class
Washington ? In a rebuke to the Treasury secretary, the White House said Monday that President Barack Obama remains opposed to any tax hike for families earning up to $250,000.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs restated the assurance after Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers appeared Sunday to leave open the possibility Obama would tap middle-class Americans’ income to reduce the deficit or help pay for a health insurance overhaul.
The conflicting statements from administration economic and political officials illustrate the problem facing Obama: how to find a politically palatable way to pay for the health insurance overhaul he insists is the cornerstone to bringing the rapidly escalating federal deficit under control.