Summers: Obama will keep taxes on wealthy lower than Clinton did (Video)

The Obama administration will not allow for new taxes during the next two years, and will hold tax rates lower than they were during the Clinton administration, one of President Obama’s top economic advisers said Tuesday.

National Economic Council Chairman Lawrence Summers said that the administration wouldn’t entertain new taxes until an economic recovery is underway, which they expect to take place in two years.

“Let’s be very clear: there are no, no tax increases this year. There are no, no tax increases next year,” Summers said during an interview with CNBC Tuesday afternoon.

“The president has not called for any tax increase. He has simply proposed that the tax cuts that had been put in place will be allowed to expire,” Summers said. “And in fact, he will put in place a tax system in which wealthy people will be paying lower taxes than they were paying during the 1990s, when the economy was successful — lower taxes on capital gains, lower taxes on dividends.”

Summers said that given the administration’s plans, taxes are hardly the largest threat to the economy, but rather, the mounting national debt is.

“We’ve learned in the first few months since President Obama took office that the damage to the economy globally, that the seriousness of the situation we’ve inherited is much greater than almost anybody had imagined,” he added.