Obama's Budget Calls for Tax Hikes

Tomorrow's Headlines in the DJ newswire. I couldn't find a link to the story.

President Barack Obama proposed a $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2011 that will add fuel to the debate over the size and scope of government with proposals for big increases in personal and business taxes, modest spending cuts and increased outlays for education, defense and jobs initiatives.

The Obama Administration has focused in the days leading up to Monday's formal release of the budget blueprint on proposals to cap so-called "discretionary" spending, roughly 17% of the total budget, as part of a plan to start narrowing the record $1.6 trillion gap between proposed budget outlays and tax receipts. But the budget plan calls for nearly $1 trillion in tax increases on upper income families -- largely through allowing Bush tax cuts to expire. Banks, bankers and multi-national corporations would face new fees and levies. And oil companies would lose $39 billion in tax breaks.

Overall, Obama's budget plan would shrink the current deficit to $727 billion, or 4.2% of the gross domestic product, by 2013. But if annual deficits shrink, the total federal debt will keep growing.