White House won't rule out benefits tax

David Axelrod, President Obama's top political adviser, declined to rule out the possibility that the White House would agree to a tax hike on health insurance plans that would hit middle-income Americans. Speaking on ABC's "This Week," Axelrod declined to repeat Obama's pledge during his campaign that families making under $250,000 would not see "any form of tax increase, not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." Instead, Axelrod said the president has no interest in "drawing lines in the sand" on the issue of how to pay for the costly health reform plan making its way through Congress.