Gibbs closes the door on tax hikes
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs worked hard at Monday's briefing to close the door on possible tax increases that two top Obama economic advisors seemed to open on the Sunday talk shows.
"I am reiterating the president鈥檚 clear commitment鈥� not to raise taxes on the middle class, Gibbs said. He repeated the definition of the middle class as families making less than $250,000 a year.
Gibb鈥檚 comments were an effort to shut off speculation about a possible tax increase raised on Sunday鈥檚 political talk shows by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers.
Off the reservation
Geithner said the White House was not ready to rule out tax hikes to reduce the budget deficit. 鈥淲e are not at the point yet where we we鈥檙e going to make a judgment about what it is going to take," he said.
Summers said the president鈥檚 health care overhaul needs funding from somewhere. Since there can be unexpected events, Summers said, 鈥渋t is never a good idea to absolutely rule things out, no matter what.鈥�
When reporters asked why Geithner and Summers seemed to make comments at variance with the president鈥檚 position, Gibbs said the two men got into a 鈥渉ypothetical back and forth.鈥� He added that major economists feel it would 鈥渘ot make any sense鈥� to raise taxes in the midst of a recession.
