Obama To Unveil Budget With Higher Taxes, More Deficits

President Obama’s budget request to Congress Monday will forecast a deficit of $1.33 trillion in the current fiscal year and calls for $1.5 trillion in tax increases over the next decade, senior administration officials said Friday night.

The spending plan for fiscal 2013 also anticipates a deficit of $901 billion next year and includes more than $350 billion in spending on short-term measures to create jobs.

Much of that spending is unfinished business from last year’s jobs bill that the president has been pushing, such as $30 billion for states to hire new teachers and first responders, and extending the payroll tax cut an unemployment benefits through the end of this year. As Mr. Obama seeks reelection this year, he is railing against congressional Republicans to approve more of his spending proposals to create jobs and stimulate the economy.

The budget would also spend $476 billion for a six-year reauthorization of the surface transportation bill.

The projected deficit in the current fiscal year is higher than the $1.29 trillion deficit in 2011. Last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the fiscal 2012 deficit would be $1.15 trillion.

Tax increases will feature prominently in the new budget, which Mr. Obama will unveil at 11 a.m. Monday at the Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va. Consistent with the proposal he made to Congress in September, the president will call for an end to the Bush-era tax cuts for families earning more than $250,000 annually. Over the next decade, that proposal would raise $866 billion.

Read more