Obama Lackey Wants Deficit Reduction Commission to Raise Sales Tax 6.5%

Alice Rivlin, a member of President Barack Obama’s deficit-reduction commission, recommended that the national sales tax be raised 6.5% while she participated in a eparate panel sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center. Rivlin is a Democrat who formerly served as the Federal Reserve vice chairwoman, and is assisting with the deficit-reduction commission's December 1 policy recommendations that have been eagerly anticipated on both sides of the aisle.

It's unclear as to how much sway the commission will actually have; some conservatives believe it's simply a front for Obama to justify a tax increase. It's even more unclear as to how much clout Rivlin has within the commission, or whether her proposal would be speedily knocked down by other members of the group. Regardless, it's worth considering the different viewpoints that must be reconciled as part of this effort.

Alan Simpson, a Republican and former Wyoming senator who is co- chairman of the president’s commission, told Bloomberg that he thinks the possibility of recommending a tax increase on that level is unlikely:

There’s no need to get into it about their plan versus our plan...We’ve pissed enough people off in America to last forever. We don’t need any more people.