Barack Obama has laid out a stark choice to Republicans that he will carry into next year’s presidential election, saying they must choose between higher taxes on the wealthy or gutting the education and health systems.

In a speech on Monday, Mr Obama said the principle that wealthy Americans earning more than a million dollars a year should pay a similar tax rate to the middle class was at the heart of his deficit reduction program.

However, the president did not provide any details on how to meet what the White House is calling the “Buffett rule”, named after the billionaire Warren Buffett’s assertion that his tax rate was lower than his secretary’s. Mr Obama said he rejected the idea that “asking a hedge fund manager to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or teacher is class warfare”.