Via CNN’s live blog of Obama’s news conference:

11:22 a.m. ET — @LisaDCNN: OBAMA-TAXES: Nobody has talked about increasing taxes now or next yr. We have talked about closing loopholes in 2013.

Fast forward nine minutes:

11:31 a.m. ET — “It is hard to persuade people to do hard stuff that includes trimming benefits and increasing revenues” Obama said. “Reason we have a problem now is people keep avoiding hard things.”

HT: GWP