Evan McMorris-Santoro August 25, 2011, 3:18 PM

Did Jon Huntsman just drop his latest “I’m surprisingly moderate” bomb on the political landscape? Not really. But he did espouse the virtue of the wealthiest paying their fair share to fix the budget problems in America — but not through higher taxes.

In an interview with PBS Newshour set to run this evening, Huntsman said that everyone, regardless of income, needs to pony up to fix the nation’s debt problems. Newshour previews the interview with this headline: “Huntsman: I Wouldn’t Hesitate to Call on Rich to Sacrifice.” Seems like he’s talking a different game than his colleagues in the nomination hunt when it comes to the economy. And he is — he’s often been more conservative than them on fiscal issues, not less.

“As president, I wouldn’t hesitate to call on a sacrifice from all of our people, even those at the very highest end of the income spectrum,” he said. But he would not ask them to pay higher taxes — he’d simply suggest they take less in terms of government services.

“I know that there are people who can give, perhaps more than others, maybe as it relates to the means testing around Social Security and Medicare,” he said. “[There are] people who don’t need these programs, and I think we need to look realistically at where we are.”

Huntsman said America needs to “recognize” its vulnerable populations, as well as “those populations that don’t need these programs.” He also said there would be more to come from him in terms of fiscal policy that recognizes the need for shared sacrifice.

Despite his moderate-sounding tone on asking the rich — who have seen their tax rate slashed in the past decade — to sacrifice a little more into the system to balance the budget, Huntsman has shown himself of the trail to be among the farthest to the right when it comes to economic fixes.

He’s a full-on proponent of the House Republican budget crafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) which basically eliminates Medicare as we understand the program today. Mitt Romney said he supported the ideals of the Ryan budget, but hasn’t signed on entirely. Rick Perry signed a letter supporting the budget plan before he ran for president, but has since run away from some of his more conservative statements when it comes to entitlement reform.

And he was one of the entire slew of candidates on stage at this month’s Republican presidential debate in Iowa who said they’d reject a deficit deal that included even 1% of revenue increases to every 10% of spending cuts. Past Republican presidents — say, Ronald Reagan — signed deals with a 3-1 spending-cut-to-revenue increase ratio.

So, Huntsman may talk like a moderate, but his economic policies are still anything but.

Here’s a video preview of Huntsman on Newshour:

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2012, 2012 elections, Jon Huntsman