U.S. Democratic presidential candidates called on Thursday for higher tax on the richest to ease the federal financial predicament during their last TV debate before primaries in Iowa.
"We are not going to be able to dig ourselves out of that hole in one or two years," Illinois Senator Barack Obama said when asked if it would be a priority to balance the federal budget annually.
His strongest opponent, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said she favors raising taxes for the wealthiest while keeping the middle class tax cuts.
Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards joined Clinton, saying "the truth of the matter is the tax policy has been established by the big corporations and the wealthiest Americans."
"What we ought to be doing instead is getting rid of those tax breaks," he added.
However, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was the only one of the six candidates on stage who said balancing the budget would be a high priority, calling for a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, the elimination of "corporate welfare" and elimination of congressional earmarks to help get rid of federal red ink.
No more than one month before Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, the first contest of 2008 elections, Clinton, Obama and Edwards are still in a tight race in the state.
The debates over tax policies underscored the gulf between the Democratic and Republican parties on economic issues.
During the TV debate by Republican candidates on Wednesday in Iowa, they noted more than once the need to eliminate the estate tax and reduce the income tax on corporations.
According to the official statistics, the federal budget ran a surplus of 127 billion U.S. dollars the year Bush took office but rose to 162.8 billion dollars for the 2007 budget year, which ended on Sept. 30.
Source: Xinhua
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