Tax Increases: US Republicans call for flexibility

Republicans will have to accept tax increases in order to strike a budget deal.

WASHINGTON: US Republicans will have to accept significant tax increases in order to strike a budget deal that also reins in health and retirement costs, two Republican senators said on Wednesday.

While members of a deficit-cutting “super committee” struggle to reach consensus before a Nov. 23 deadline, Republican senators Lamar Alexander and Tom Coburn told the Reuters Washington Summit that nearly half of the Senate is pushing for an approach that would cause political pain for both sides.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2011.