I Thought Obama said there had to be tax increases for the rich by shutting down some of their tax

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/22/grover-norquist-clarifies_n_906582.html

Grover Norquist Clarifies Anti-Tax Increase Position

First Posted: 7/22/11 09:10 AM ET Updated: 7/22/11 10:45 AM ET

WASHINGTON -- Voting to end the Bush tax cuts would be considered a tax hike and a violation of a pledge to Americans for Tax Reform, organization president and Republican Party-influencer Grover Norquist wrote in a Friday http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/opinion/22Norquist.html?_r=2&hp">New York Times op-ed.

Norquist caused a stir on Thursday with his statements to the Washington Post editorial board, whom he told that letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire -- as they are set to do in December 2012 -- would not be seen as a violation of Americans for Tax Reform's anti-tax pledge.

But Norquist flatly rejected the idea that his statement would give Republicans, nearly all of whom have signed the pledge, breathing room to end the tax cuts as part of a deficit-reduction deal for increasing the debt limit. Democrats are pushing for a deal to raise the debt ceiling to include an end to some of the Bush tax cuts, which have temporarily reduced the tax rate for most income levels, or other revenue-raisers to mitigate heavy spending cuts.

Voting to raise taxes in any way -- including by ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy instead of letting them expire on their own -- is a violation of the pledge, he wrote in The New York Times, comparing paying taxes to being mugged.