President Obama set to run on tax increases in 2012

According to Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, the President would like to eliminate the tax cuts (a.k.a. raise taxes) for the highest income brackets in 2012 when the current tax cuts expire. Vice President Joe Biden has said the same thing, that the administration has a goal of eliminating this tax cut in 2012.

Report from Bloomberg:

Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said the administration will work over the next two years to end tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that were included in broader tax legislation passed this month.

Obama, in a compromise with Senate Republicans, agreed to a two-year extension of tax reductions for family income above $250,000 coupled with an extension of unemployment benefits. Jarrett said the issue will come up again before the 2012 presidential elections.

“That’s something he is willing to fight for,” she said in an interview taped for broadcast on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today. “He is going to fight very hard when those two-year extensions expire” to end the breaks for top earners.

Vice President Joe Biden said on the same program last week that ending the tax cuts for the wealthy would be a goal in 2012.

Obama has said he didn’t like having to include the tax cuts for families with incomes exceeding $250,000 in the final $858 billion tax legislation and looks forward to a debate about renewing them in two years.

“I don’t think that over the long run we can afford a series of tax breaks for people who are doing very well and don’t need it,” Obama said at a press conference Dec. 23.

I don’t have to tell you what this sets up in terms of the 2012 presidential election and framing the debate. President Obama will no doubt argue that America needs “middle class tax cuts” which is why he wants to raise taxes on taxpayers he feels should be paying more. The Republican candidate will counter this arguing that all Americans, regardless of income, should be given these tax breaks to help stimulate the economy and keep more cash in the private sector and out of the hand of government.

What this says to me is that by 2012, the President must think that a majority of Americans will agree with him on this class warfare card to come out and vote for it. However, with the Tea Party being such a major factor as it was in 2010, I just can’t believe that the majority of Americans will want to raise taxes, even on the wealthiest tax payers.