ABC: Obama Once Trumpeted the Tax Reform Now Pushed by Boehner

Obama changes tune on budget (Washington Times)

While he now demands that higher tax rates for the wealthy must be part of a “fiscal cliff” deal, President Obama took a very different line just over a year ago in the last major clash with Congress over a long-term budget deal.
In comments Republicans on Capitol Hill are highlighting, Mr. Obama argued in the summer of 2011 that the government could raise more than $1 trillion in revenue without increasing tax rates paid by the rich — something the president now contends is mathematically impossible.

“What we said was, give us $1.2 trillion in additional revenues, which could be accomplished without hiking taxes — tax rates — but could simply be accomplished by eliminating loopholes, eliminating some deductions and engaging in a tax-reform process that could have lowered rates generally while broadening the base,” the president said at a July 22, 2011, White House news conference.

Mr. Obama’s position today is that his $1.6 trillion plan to avoid the fiscal cliff of tax increases and deep spending cuts must include higher tax rates for the top 2 percent of the income scale.