WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top Senate Democrat is pushing to raise taxes on the wealthy while preserving many tax breaks benefiting the middle class in a challenge to a traditional tax reform model that lowers tax rates for all and finances the cuts through a broad assault on tax breaks and loopholes.
New York Democrat Charles Schumer says any money from curbing tax breaks should go to reducing the deficit. He also says the top tax rate should go back to Clinton-era levels.
Schumer says proposals by Mitt Romney and others to cut tax rates across the board would inevitably end up boosting taxes on the middle class because policymakers would have to slash deductions and credits that benefit the middle class, like breaks for mortgage interest and college savings.
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