US President Obama has reiterated his call for high earners in the US to pay more in taxes, in his first news conference since winning re-election.
美国总统奥巴马连任后的首场记者招待会上，重申了美国高收入者缴更多税的号召。
He called for quick legislation to rule out tax rises on the first $250,000 of income, but refused to extend cuts for the wealthiest 2%.
"We should not hold the middle class hostage while we debate tax cuts for the wealthy," Mr Obama said.
The US faces an end-of-year "fiscal cliff" of spending cuts and tax rises.
The fiscal cliff would see the George W Bush-era tax cuts expire in combination with automatic, across-the-board reductions to military and domestic spending.
Loophole offer
Some $607bn of savings and tax rises are planned, including reductions in the defence budget, the end of an employee tax holiday, changes to Medicare allowances and higher personal taxes.
The lower paid are set to lose some child and income credits, but Mr Obama has made fewer references to other portions of the stimulus deal set to expire beyond the tax cuts.
The fiscal cliff is due to take effect because Congress failed to reach a deal on deficit reduction after a stand-off over the US debt ceiling in mid-2011.
Congressional Republicans have said since last week's US elections that they are open to raising revenue through tax reform and closure of loopholes, but oppose tax rises on the wealthy.
Glenn Hubbard, an economic adviser to Republican Mitt Romney's failed presidential bid, writing in the Financial Times, called on fellow Republicans to accept the need for the rich to pay more tax, albeit through closing loopholes such as tax deductions.
Other Republicans favour ending the right of Americans to deduct mortgage interest payments from their taxable income - something analysts say is likely to hurt the middle classes far more than top earners.
During his news conference on Wednesday, Mr Obama was dismissive of a loophole-only reform, telling reporters that "the math tends not to work" in helping to cut $1 trillion in the US deficit.
"It really is arithmetic, not calculus," he said.作者: kobe 时间: 2012-11-21 21:02
You did a good job!作者: icefire 时间: 2012-11-22 13:09
