The administration also proposed new ideas, such as curbing the amount of interest from municipal bonds that top earners could exclude from their income.

Obama also wants to raise $18 billion by taxing the carried interest, or profits-based compensation, of private equity managers, real estate investors and venture capitalists as ordinary income, instead of more lightly taxed capital gains. That would affect companies including Blackstone Group LP (BX) and KKR & Co. LP.