Boehner open to a slight tax rate increase?

Boehner evades a question. Reporting on Friday's press conference from House Speaker John Boehner in which he said there was no progress (but then insisted he wouldn't allow progress unless there was some official counter-offer from the White House to the bullshit proposal the White House already rejected), Politico says that Boehner might consider a miniscule tax rate hike.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was asked about a top rate of 37 percent'roughly halfway between current rates of 35 percent and 39.6 percent, where rates return to at the end of December'and declined to rule it out.

'There are a lot of things that are possible to put the revenue the president seeks on the table,' Boehner said in a Friday news conference. 'But none of it's going to be possible if the president insists on his position. Insists on my way or the highway. That's not the way to get to an agreement that I think is important for the American people and very important for our country.'

While it's technically true that Boehner declined to rule out a two percent rate hike, it's also true that he declined to answer the question at all, so there you go. But I suppose ignoring the question is better than a "hell, no."

Asked the same question, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi questioned whether that small of a hike would make enough of a difference in revenues, but said, 'It's not about the rates. It's about the money'.It's about getting the money to reduce the deficit, to grow the economy and to unleash that power.' You get that money and grow the economy through revenue, so Democrats really need to game out exactly what a two percent hike would give them, and weigh that against what they might have to give up in return.