GOP: No Tax Hikes in Deficit Plan

The Hill reports:

Republican leaders in the Senate and House will not agree to tax increases in the guise of reform measures, according to a prominent conservative advocate for lower taxes.

Conservatives have grown increasingly worried that Republicans in Congress may accept a tax hike as part of a broader deal to reduce discretionary and entitlement spending.

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) have pledged to Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist they will not support any deficit reduction package that increases taxes.

This promise will make it considerably tougher to get Democrats to agree to a broad deficit reduction package.

Conservatives, however, say they have been burned before by budget deals that raise taxes in exchange for promised spending cuts that fail to materialize.

Norquist says Senate and House Republican leaders have promised not to allow history to repeat itself.

“I’ve talked to the Senate leadership and House leadership. They’re not voting on tax increases and they know that,” Norquist told The Hill Friday.

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