Top U.S. CEOs urge increase in tax revenue: WSJ (by Michael Kitchen)

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Chief executives, presidents and chairs of more than 80 top U.S. corporations are calling on Congress to use a mix of spending cuts and tax-revenue increases to curb the nation's deficit, The Wall Street Journal reported early Thursday, citing an open letter due to be released later in the day. The signatories include such well-known executives as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein, General Electric Co. (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt, and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon. The statement doesn't endorse either presidential candidate's economic plan, but rather hews to ideas endorsed by the government-appointed 2010 deficit-reduction commission chaired by ex-senator Alan Simpson and former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, the report said. "You can't tax your way to fix this problem, and you can't cut entitlements enough to fix this problem," the report quoted Aetna Inc. (AET) CEO Mark Bertolini as saying. Some Democrats have criticized Republicans for refusing to consider tax increases to curb the deficit, while some Republicans have criticized President Barack Obama for not pushing to implement the findings of the Simpson-Bowles commission.