What’s a tax increase? Boehner, Norquist say no to letting Bush cuts expire

No sooner did influential anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist appear to open the door Thursday to allowing upper-income tax breaks to expire as part of a sweeping deficit reduction bill than both he and House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) quickly shut it, saying such a move would be an unacceptable tax hike.

Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, had said in an interview that allowing the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush to expire, as they are scheduled to do at the end of 2012, would not be a violation of the pledge.

“Not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase,” Norquist said, according to an editorial in the Washington Post. So it doesn’t violate the pledge, the paper asked? “We wouldn’t hold it that way,” he said.

If Norquist were to relinquish his hold on the tax issue, it could dramatically change the trajectory of the debate as Congress and the White House continue to negotiate budget reforms in exchange for a vote on raising the nation’s debt limit. The impasse has centered on whether tax increases for corporations and the wealthy should be used, along with spending reductions, to lower deficits.

Republicans reject this, pressing for spending cuts alone. Any tax increase has long been considered a violation of the American for Tax Reform’s no-new-taxes pledge that many Republicans take. Days are remaining to reach a deal. Treasury has said it would be unable to pay the nation’s bills after Aug. 2, resulting in a devastating federal default.

The organization clarified Norquist’s remarks later Thursday, saying the debt ceiling debate should focus “totally and exclusively on reducing government spending.”

“ATR opposes all tax increases on the American people,” the group said in a statement. “Any failure to extend or make permanent the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, in whole or in part, would clearly increase taxes on the American people …. It is a violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to trade temporary tax reductions for permanent tax hikes.”

Boehner quickly dismissed the notion that allowing the tax breaks to expire would be acceptable.

“I believe that would be raising taxes,” Boehner said. “I’ve never voted to raise taxes and I don’t intend to.”

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com