Obama Budget: $901 Billion Deficit In 2013
Baku, February 11 (AZERTAC). President Barack Obama will revive proposals for $1.5 trillion in tax increases as well as spending to boost jobs as part of a 2013 budget request that projects the deficit shrinking next year to $901 billion, Bloomberg reports.
The tax increases would mostly fall on the wealthy, through a new 30 percent minimum tax on those earning more than $1 million annually, allowing Bush-era tax cuts to expire for families taking home more than $250,000 and capping the value of itemized deductions for top earners, according to administration officials who briefed reporters on the document set for release Feb. 13.
Taxes would also rise for large financial institutions, through a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee, and also for oil, gas and coal companies.
Obama is seeking $350 billion in short-term jobs measures, including additional infrastructure spending, extending unemployment benefits and increasing aid to cash strapped state governments. He would also extend an expiring payroll tax break for the rest of this year.
“The budget targets scarce federal resources to areas critical to growing the economy and restoring middle-class security,” a White House fact sheet released yesterday said.
Much of the president`s budget plan repeats proposals that have already been rejected by Republicans, including a 10-year, $3 trillion deficit reduction package offered to Congress in September. In addition to laying out the president`s priorities, the blueprint is designed to highlight the differences between the two parties` agendas as the November election nears. “This unserious budget is a recipe for debt, doubt and decline,” said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican. “It would make our economy worse by imposing massive tax increases on small business and still pile up enormous debt that stirs greater economic uncertainty.”
House Republicans promise a sharp contrast when they unveil their own budget plan next month. The plan will offer “a choice of two futures: our vision, our solutions versus the path the president is putting us on,” House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican said yesterday. His plan probably will reprise last year`s call for overhauling Medicare, slashing spending and eschewing any tax increases.
The administration forecasts this year`s deficit will be $1.3 trillion, or 8.5 percent of the nation`s gross domestic product. The budget shortfall would eventually fall to as little as $575 billion, or 2.7 percent of GDP by 2018, according to an administration summary.
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