President to unveil $3 trillion deficit-cutting plan, denying tax cuts for wealthy

On Monday morning, President Obama plans to reveal his proposal to cut the federal deficit by more than $3 trillion over 10 years, in part by establishing a new minimum tax for the nation's highest earners, newsoutletsreport.

The president is expected to introduce the "Buffett Rule" to end tax rates for millionaires that are lower than those for middle-class Americans. (The rule is named after multi-billionaire businessman Warren Buffett, who has publicly advocated steeper taxes on the country's wealthiest.) The Buffett proposal drew fire from Republicans when the White House unveiled it this weekend.

House Budget chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) argued Sunday during an interview on Fox News Sunday that the Buffett Rule will produce a perverse distortion of its intended effect. "It punishes job creation and those people who create jobs," Ryan said.

"Class warfare, Chris, may make for really good politics," Ryan said to host Chris Wallace, "but it makes for rotten economics."

"We don't need a system that seeks to divide people. We don't need a system that seeks to prey on people's fear, envy and anxiety. We need a system that creates job[s] and innovation and removes these barriers for entrepreneurs to go out and rehire people."

You can watch excerpts of the Fox interview below via the House Budget Committee:

Buffett has pointed out that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. The billionaire investor penned an op-ed last month calling on lawmakers to stop "coddling" the super rich.

The Obama administration has repeatedly called for ending tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. National polls suggest that the idea can yield support from the public, even though the GOP repudiates it.

In a July Washington Post/ABC News poll, 72 percent of adults surveyed said they support raising taxes on individuals earning $200,000 or more. Just 27 percent opposed the idea. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Obama is set to unveil the Buffett Rule and other proposals Monday at 10:30 a.m. ET during a Rose Garden press conference.

The New York Times' Helene Cooper writes:

Mr. Obama will call for $1.5 trillion in tax increases, primarily on the wealthy, through a combination of closing loopholes and limiting the amount that high earners can deduct. The proposal also includes $580 billion in adjustments to health and entitlement programs, including $248 billion to "Recent and archival health news about Medicare." Medicare and $72 billion to Medicaid. Administration officials said that the Medicare cuts would not come from an increase in the Medicare eligibility age.

Cooper notes that senior administration officials said the plan counts savings of $1.1 trillion from ending the mission in Iraq and withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.