Boehner: Raising taxes 'off the table'

House Speaker John Boehner declared Tuesday that raising taxes is "off the table" in negotiations on deficit reduction, prompting a White House complaint that such "maximalist positions" do not lead to compromise.

The White House also denounced Boehner's demand a day earlier for more than $2 trillion in spending cuts in exchange for Republican agreement to raise the U.S. debt limit.

Press secretary Jay Carney likened the demand to a hostage-taking, telling reporters, "It is folly to hold hostage the vote to raise the debt ceiling . . . to any other piece of legislation." He said increasing the debt limit is intended to prevent the United States "from defaulting on its obligations."

In an interview on NBC's "Today" show ahead of a new round of deficit-reduction talks hosted by Vice President Joe Biden, Boehner (R-Ohio) appeared to rule out any compromise with Democrats on allowing the Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy Americans to expire or ending tax breaks worth billions of dollars to large oil companies making record profits. Republicans define both steps as tax increases.

"What some are suggesting is we take the money from people who would invest in our economy and create jobs and give it to the government," Boehner said. "The fact is you can't tax the people we expect to invest in the economy and create jobs."

Asked whether "raising taxes is a nonstarter," Boehner replied: "It's off the table. Everything else is on the table."

That brought a rebuke from Carney, who complained that the GOP's "position that eliminating the Medicare program as we know it remains on the table, but dealing with tax expenditures is off the table."

Speaking to reporters accompanying President Barack Obama on a trip to Texas aboard Air Force One, Carney added: "Maximalist positions do not produce compromise."

Carney said linking an upcoming vote on the debt ceiling to massive spending cuts "remains extremely unwise in our view," and he cited Boehner's own words on the potentially catastrophic results of failing to raise the amount the federal government is allowed to borrow. This would mean "financial disaster not only for our country but for the worldwide economy," he quoted Boehner as saying Jan. 30. "You can't create jobs if you default on the federal debt." Carney said "we couldn't agree more."