By Alister Bull and Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON | Mon Sep 19, 2011 10:02am EDT
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama will lay out a plan on Monday to cut the U.S. deficit that will raise taxes on the rich, striking a populist tone to motivate his Democratic Party base before the November 2012 election.
Obama will vow to veto any cuts proposed for the government-run Medicare health program for the elderly unless Congress agrees to lift taxes on companies and the wealthy.
His plan, which has little chance of getting through Congress in one piece, sets up the congressional and presidential elections as an ideological battle over taxes and spending.
With opinion polls showing most Americans disillusioned with his economic leadership, winning re-election may hinge on his success in painting Republicans as the party of the rich.
Republicans have consistently opposed any measures resembling tax hikes, saying they will hurt the struggling U.S. economy. "It is disappointing the president has nothing but a fresh slogan for the same job-killing small business tax hikes opposed by bipartisan majorities in Congress," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for top House Republican John Boehner.
The president's recommendations to a congressional "super committee" would deliver deficit savings of more than $3 trillion over the next decade, his aides said, with roughly half of those savings coming from higher tax revenues. Read more
