Taxes, Spending Cuts | featured news

An Associated Press-GfK poll shows that President Barack Obama's proposal to make millionaires pay a significant share of their incomes in taxes is widely popular. But the plan is not shaking the public's embrace of spending cuts as the best way to balance the budget....

A long-running war between Democrats and Republicans over Bush-era tax cuts doomed the debt supercommittee's chances of reaching a deal. Efforts to overhaul the tax code may await the same fate as both parties gear up to make taxes a central issue in 2012 elections....

President Barack Obama offered strong praise Tuesday for a deficit reduction plan put together by a bipartisan group of senators, calling the measure's mix of tax hikes and spending reforms "broadly consistent" with his own approach to the current debt ceiling crisis.

President Obama meets with Senate leaders, but no one wants to back away from tough stances on taxes. Debt-reduction talks between congressional leaders and the White House entered a crucial phase Monday, with no clear framework for resolving the deadlock over taxes and spending and a deadline for a potential federal default fast approaching.

Democratic lawmakers passed a rare on-time state budget Wednesday over Republican objections, but the plan — balanced with a blend of taxes, cuts and clever accounting — faces an uncertain fate at the hands of Gov. Jerry Brown.

Top congressional Republicans on Sunday suggested they could compromise on the two biggest issues -- healthcare and taxes -- that stand in the way of a deal to get the United States' debt under control.

The Senate majority leader says budget reductions must be accompanied by tax reform. He predicts that negotiations on the nation's debt limit will drag until the 11th hour. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says tax loopholes must be addressed ...

Republicans planned sharp cuts to foreign aid and education on Wednesday, while Democrats weighed a tax hike on millionaires, highlighting the yawning divide between the two parties in the budget debate.

The battle over whether tax increases can be used to cut the nation's debt flared Tuesday as the Senate's Democratic budget writer floated a possible millionaire's surtax to help cut projected deficits over the next decade. But Republican leaders flatly said no to tax increases....

With high gas prices and federal deficits in the political spotlight, senior Democrats believe that Senate Republicans will support an idea they otherwise might not like.