US President Barack Obama has proposed a $3.8 trillion budget brimming with populist tax hikes on the rich and jobs spending designed to outflank Republicans as he seeks a second term.
However, the blueprint was immediately branded by Republicans as an "insult" to taxpayers, a mere "campaign document" and an example of an America "drowning in debt".
Mr Obama said his 2013 budget would sustain fresh economic growth, create jobs, change an economic system tilted in favour the wealthy and make a long-term payment on deficits now set to top a $1 trillion four years in a row.
"We have got to do everything in our power to keep this recovery on track," Mr Obama said as he published the document.
"The last thing we need is for Washington to stand in the way of America's comeback," he said in swing-state Virginia, which he hopes to win in November's election.
Mr Obama called for more than $600bn in construction, research and development, training and innovation spending designed to create jobs and nurture a newly skilled American work force.
He said he wanted to modernise 35,000 schools, repair roads, railways and airport runways, and put billions of dollars into education.
Mr Obama plans to pay for his proposals by repealing tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 a year passed by President George W Bush.
He would try again to bring in a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee on banks and finance firms to compensate taxpayers for bailouts during the financial crisis.
The proposal also call on Congress to back the Buffett rule, named after billionaire financier Warren Buffett, designed to ensure no household earning more than $1m a year pays less than 30% in taxes.
Officials also put forward a $206bn proposal to tax dividends of the richest taxpayers at the rate of the top level of income tax.
Mr Obama's previous attempts to hike taxes on the wealthy have foundered on calls of "class warfare" from Republicans who warn they will slow growth and harm small businesses which are the engine of job creation.
Mitt Romney, Mr Obama's possible Republican opponent in November, branded the document "an insult to the American taxpayer" and said it failed to secure long-term solvency for social programs.
Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell complained the budget was less a serious spending plan than a "campaign document".
"It's bad for job creation, bad for seniors, and ... will make the economy worse."
