Marc Gerson comments on President Obama's plan to cut the budget deficit by $1.5 trillion through a series of tax increases, which is part of the president's larger plan to reduce the deficit by more than $3 trillion over 10 years and includes the $467 billion in tax increases Obama proposed as part of his American Jobs Act. Gerson, former tax counsel to the House Ways and Means Committee, flagged an area of the plan for further inquiry. "The largest item—expiration of the Bush tax cuts for higher income taxpayers—is interesting because under the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] baseline the expiration is assumed and therefore would not generate income that could be scored as reducing the deficit," Gerson said.