“Plausible tax expenditure limitations that protect middle-class families and incentives to give to charity would raise far less revenue from the well off than is needed for a major budget agreement,” wrote Sperling, the director of the National Economic Council, and Furman, the council’s deputy director.
{mosads}“A budget framework that raises only these amounts from high-income tax deductions while committing to no rate increases on high-income Americans would inevitably force any tax reform designed to further reduce the deficit to raise taxes on middle-class families simply to preserve lower rates for the most fortunate.”
Republicans, for their part, have said they are open to including new revenues in a budget deal, but have drawn the line at tax rate increases.
A GOP aide familiar with the latest administration offer said that it contained double the amount of revenue than a Senate Democratic bill to extend Bush-era rates only for family income up to $250,000 a year.