Obama Demands $1.1 Trillion Tax Hike, Won't Get Specific on Spending Cuts

Obama Demands $1.1 Trillion Tax Hike, Won't Get Specific on Spending Cuts


During an interview Sunday on Face the Nation, GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan was pressed repeatedly by host Norah O'Donnell for specifics on the Romney-Ryan tax reform plan. But Obama made it through an interview that aired on the same program without being pressed for specifics on his own tax and spending plans. 

"There isn't a Romney plan that's been specific about which deductions and loopholes he will close," O'Donnell said. Romney has proposed a tax reform that would lower tax rates and reduce or eliminate tax loopholes to make up for any loss in revenue.

Ryan mentioned studies that show it is possible to lower rates and reduce or nix loopholes without having a net tax increase on the middle class, and he said that a Romney administration would work with the new Congress on dealing with specific loopholes. 

"We want to have a debate out in front, work with Congress, work with the public to find out what are the priorities we want to have in the tax system," Ryan said.

Asking Ryan to name which loopholes he and Romney will close is a perfectly fine question. (I asked him the same question in April 2011.) But compare and contrast CBS's Ryan interview with its Obama interview on the very same program (emphasis added):

PELLEY: If you win, would you be willing to compromise? What are you will to give in order to complete this grand bargain on the budget that have failed?