President Barack Obama on Thursday rebutted his Republican critics, like former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who have accused him of having a “politics of envy.”

“Do we want to keep these tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans or do we want to keep investing in everything else?” he said at an event in Las Vegas. “We can’t do both.”

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Obama said that those making over a million dollars a year should pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent, his so-called Buffett rule, and noted that Bill Gates had a similar view.

“I promise you, Bill Gates does not envy the rich,” he said. “This has nothing to do with envy, it has everything to do with math.”

“If I get a tax break I don’t need and a tax break the country can’t afford, then one of two things are going to happen: either it is going to add to our deficit or somebody else is going to have to make up the difference.”

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube, below:



[H/T: Greg Sargent]