President Barack Obama has called for raised taxes on the rich as well as cuts in government spending in what he termed a balanced approach to cutting the huge US budget deficit¹.

奥巴马总统呼吁对富人提高税率并削减政府开支，他称这是削减巨额预算赤字的一个兼顾的办法。

In a speech in Washington DC he outlined a package of tax increases and spending cuts aimed at reducing the deficit by $4tn (£2.45tn) by 2023.

He attacked Republican plans he said would harm the poor and elderly.

Republicans have said any increase in taxes is a "non-starter".

"We have to live within our means, reduce our deficit, and get back on a path that will allow us to pay down（用现金支付） our debt," Mr Obama said in a speech at George Washington University.

"And we have to do it in a way that protects the recovery, and protects the investments we need to grow, create jobs, and win the future."

The ballooning US deficit is set to be a top issue in the 2012 election campaign, and in recent weeks, Republicans have laid out their own plan to cut it, based on big reductions in healthcare and social programmes for the poor and elderly and in education spending.

The deficit is forecast to reach $1.5 trillion (£921bn) this year and both Democrats² and Republicans have said cutting it is a priority.

Mr Obama on Wednesday unveiled his own proposal - in a speech in which he used the word "vision" more than a dozen times.

The remarks came after Republicans had accused him of failing to exercise leadership, and many US political analysts³ said the Republican opposition⁴ had seized the political momentum⁵.

Republicans on Wednesday attacked Mr Obama's speech as mere⁶ campaign rhetoric⁷（修辞） , noting he recently launched his re-election bid. Primarily, they firmly rejected his proposal to raise additional tax revenue from the wealthy.

"At a time when millions of our countrymen remain unemployed⁸, the president again proposes tax increases on job creators," said Jeb Hensarling of Texas, a member of the party's House leadership team, calling Mr Obama's speech "class warfare⁹".

Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, chairman of the House budget committee, said: "Exploiting people's emotions of fear, envy and anxiety is not hope, it's not change, it's partisanship¹⁰. We don't need partisanship. We don't need demagoguery（散布谣言） . We need solutions."

Led by Mr Ryan, Republicans have offered their own proposal that would go further than Mr Obama's, slashing¹¹（猛砍，鞭打） $6.2 trillion from government spending over the next decade, in large part through cuts to government programmes that serve the elderly and the poor.