Boehner, GOP Brace for Obama's $1.5T Tax Push

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will call tomorrow for $1.5 trillion in tax increases over the next decade targeting the wealthy and corporate preferences as part of a plan to cut the deficit by $3 trillion over the same period, administration officials said.

The stance puts Obama in direct conflict with Republican congressional leaders including House Speaker John Boehner, who last week said his party would not accept tax increases and urged a congressional panel charged with reducing deficits to focus on cuts to entitlement programs such as the Medicare health insurance plan for the elderly.

Obama’s plan, which he is scheduled to deliver in a statement at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow Washington time at the White House, will form his recommendations to a 12-member congressional committee charged with finding ways to trim at least $1.5 trillion from the deficit over a decade. The panel is supposed to deliver its recommendations to Congress by Nov. 23.

Obama will threaten to veto any deficit plan that cuts Medicare benefits unless wealthy Americans also are asked to pay more in taxes, according to the officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. While Obama will include Medicare benefit cuts in his proposal, the administration will insist on tax increases as a condition, they said.