Front page story in today’s Wall Street Journal, Obama Puts Taxes on Table:

President Barack Obama will lay out his plan for reducing the nation’s deficit Wednesday, belatedly entering a fight over the nation’s long-term financial future. But in addition to suggesting cuts—the current focus of debate—the White House looks set to aim its firepower on a more divisive topic: taxes.

In a speech Wednesday, Mr. Obama will propose cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, and changes to Social Security, a discussion he has largely left to Democrats and Republicans in Congress. He also will call for tax increases for people making over $250,000 a year, a proposal contained in his 2012 budget, and changing parts of the tax code he thinks benefit the wealthy. …

Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the No. 2 Republican in the House, said in an interview that Mr. Obama had already passed up an opportunity to show seriousness about deficit reduction with his 2012 budget. “Instead of returning back to the age-old playbook of raising taxes so that spending can continue, I think maybe the White House ought to take a look at what we’re talking about…which is to cut spending as well as to reform these entitlement programs.”

Mr. Cantor called the debate over top personal-income-tax rates “settled” by last year’s elections and the subsequent tax deal. “It was then that we all agreed it wouldn’t be a good thing if we want to see job creation for taxes to go up,” he said. …

In his speech Wednesday, Mr. Obama will use himself as an example to make the case for raising taxes on the wealthy, while preserving those for the middle class. “People like him, as he’ll say, who’ve been very fortunate in life, have the ability to pay a little bit more,” Mr. Plouffe said. Eliminating the Bush tax cuts for the highest earners, however, will only put a small dent in the projected deficit.