Norquist: Election not tax hike mandate

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Anti-tax lobbyist Grover Norquist warned President Obama's goal is to raise taxes for all Americans now that he has won a second term.

Norquist, the founder of "Americans For Tax Reform," who has gotten nearly all Republican congressional members to sign his anti-tax pledge, said Monday on "CBS This Morning" Democrats shouldn't take the elections Tuesday as a mandate to raise taxes.

Norquist maintains John Boehner, speaker of the Republican-led House, wasn't advocating "raising marginal tax rates" but "revenues coming from growth."

With the "fiscal cliff" of lower tax rates passed during the George W. Bush administration expiring and automatic spending cuts looming at the end of the year, Boehner said Wednesday congressional Republicans would accept "new revenue under the right conditions" but would not accept tax increases as part of a deficit-debt reduction package.

Boehner also made clear that "new revenue via tax reform" would only be accepted if it is "linked to responsible entitlement reform and spending cuts."

On CNN Norquist said a compromise could be reached, but raising taxes a little bit doesn't solve the problem.

"The problem is too much spending," he said on CNN. "The problem is not that the 'peasants' aren't sending enough money into Washington."

Obama on Friday said he wouldn't consider a compromise that didn't include some sort of tax hike for the wealthy.

"We just had an election: The House of Representatives was elected, committed to keeping taxes low," Norquist said on CBS. "The president was elected on the basis that he was not [GOP candidate Mitt] Romney and that Romney was a poopy-head and you should vote against Romney."