President Obama’s plan to rein in the national debt includes raising taxes on successful small businesses.

“Unfortunately, the President’s tax proposals rehash the same misguided tax policy that was overwhelmingly defeated by bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate,” U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue said following the president’s April 13 speech to unveil his plan. “It relies predominantly on increasing taxes on those individuals that save and invest and on successful small businesses. It fails to recognize the high degree of progressivity in the current code or that real tax reform must address both the corporate and individual parts of the code.”

As part of his $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan, Obama wants Congress to overhaul the tax code by lowering rates, eliminating tax breaks, and generating more money than the current system does. The plan would allow tax cuts affecting high-income taxpayers to expire at the end of 2012 and would raise $1 trillion on top of that.

“While we recognize that addressing our deficit and debt problems should include tax reform that establishes a broader base and lower rates, we must not confuse real tax reform with tax increases. Simply raising more than $1 trillion in new taxes will not produce economic growth or prosperity,” Donohue said.

The president also called for $400 billion in cuts to military spending by 2023 but rejected calls for fundamental changes to Medicare and Medicaid.

“We are pleased that the president has moved beyond his original budget proposal and recognized that meaningful budget reform must entail curbing our excessive and unsustainable spending. However, we believe that our long-run fiscal policy must include real reform of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security as well as curbs to discretionary spending,” Donohue said.