President Barack Obama rarely misses a chance to call on upper-income Americans to pay more taxes.<\/p>\n
But his annual budget is doing more to target middle-class taxpayers than any of his previous proposals, calling for caps on deductions, changes in the way some tax benefits are calculated and a big hike in cigarette taxes \u2014 all proposals that would make middle-class Americans pay more.<\/p>\n
Obama\u2019s budget is still being picked apart on Capitol Hill, but his openness to an even wider range of tax increases will frame the coming fiscal debates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a new paradigm,\u201d said Bob Williams, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. \u201cThis is the first budget he\u2019s presented that has proposed raising taxes on people below the $250,000 thresholds he\u2019s maintained over the past five years.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also has some Democrats worried, especially those who represent districts where their constituents make a good salary but don\u2019t see themselves as rich stand to get hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a concern,\u201d Rep. Allyson Schwartz, a Pennsylvania Democrat who represents some of Philadelphia\u2019s suburbs, told POLITICO in reference to Obama\u2019s proposed deduction cap. \u201cFor many people, the mortgage tax deduction is your biggest deduction. It\u2019s very significant. And just as the housing market is coming back, there\u2019s a question about the timing of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Republicans are lapping up the proposals as evidence \u2014 despite Obama\u2019s rhetoric \u2014 the administration won\u2019t spare the middle class from higher taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe president keeps breaking his campaign pledge to not tax the middle class \u2014 first with his health care law and now with these tax hikes in his budget,\u201d Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top GOP member on the Finance Committee, told POLITICO. \u201cAs I\u2019ve said before, when it comes to this White House and its penchant for wanting to raise taxes, everyone \u2014 including those middle-class families the president says he wants to help \u2014 needs to watch their wallets.\u201d<\/p>\n