Barack Obama: Wealthy must pay more tax

US President Barack Obama has reiterated his call for high earners in the US to pay more in taxes, in his first news conference since his re-election.

He called for quick legislation to rule out tax rises on the first $250,000 (£158,000) of income, but refused to extend cuts for the wealthiest 2%.

Mr Obama said it should come as ''no surprise'' that his approach was that ''the wealthiest Americans pay a little bit more''.