In his State of the Union speech, US President Barack Obama called for higher taxes on millionaires and strict regulations for financial institutions.

Obama defended his three years in office in his annual speech to Congress. He said that the many of the problems are due to several banks and that Congress that is not connected with the issues. He is proposing a complete overhaul to the tax code and new steps to address the US housing crisis.

He called for a "return to American values of fair play and shared responsibility."

"I will not go back to the days when Wall Street was allowed to play by its own set of rules. Washington should stop subsiding millionaires," Obama added. He proposed a % effective tax rate on all those who earn million dollars or more.

For the mortgage crisis, the president proposed paying for the relief plan through imposing fee on banks that are blamed for helping in creating the housing crisis. Democrats and Republicans in Congress are against each other for the country's problems.

Republicans oppose tax hikes saying that it would hurt a fragile economic recovery while Democrats propose high taxes.