Ever-increasing tax breaks for U.S. families eclipse benefits for special interests  —  As President Obama and congressional Republicans argue over how to rewrite the U.S. tax code, the debate has revolved around “loopholes” for corporate jets and ending “carve-outs” for well-heeled special interests.

Obama to call for new minimum tax rate for millionaires  —  President Obama plans to call Monday for a new minimum tax rate on millionaires as part of a comprehensive rewrite of the U.S. tax code to force the wealthiest Americans to pay the same share of income in taxes as middle-class families.

Rick Perry, Uber Texan  —  YOU think of Rick Perry, you think of Texas.  And more Texas.  Perry the cowboy coyote-killer, the lord of the Texas job-creation machine, the g-dropping glad-hander with a “howdy” for every stranger in the room.  He barely exists in the national mind outside of the Texas connection.

W.H. pushes back hard at Suskind  —  The White House launched an aggressive response to a forthcoming book that chronicles internal dissent and second-guessing of President Barack Obama by his own staff and presents Obama as a conflicted, sometimes wavering leader.