U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday that he thought lawmakers could agree to work on U. S. tax code in the next Congress based on his talks with Republican leaders.

Obama said he has been speaking to House Speaker John Boehner and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "They are serious about wanting to get things done. The tax area is one area where we can get things done," Obama said during a year-end news conference at the White House.

"I'd like to see more simplicity in the system. I'd like to see more fairness in the system," Obama said.

He reiterated the reform of the corporate tax to ensure fairness to companies and fix tax loopholes to prevent tax inversion, a practice by companies to switch their headquarters on paper but really headquartered in the United States to avoid paying taxes.

"And early on, we indicated that there's a way of us potentially doing corporate tax reform, lowering rates, eliminating loopholes so everybody's paying their fair share," said Obama, adding that the Republicans share some of those principles.

But he cautioned "the devil's in the details."

In regard to consumer protection in the financial system, Obama threatened to veto any efforts by a Republican-controlled Congress to weaken measures aimed at protecting consumers from abuses in the financial system.

"If they try to water down consumer protections that we put in place in the aftermath of the financial crisis, I will say no," Obama told the news conference. "And I'm confident that I'll be able to uphold vetoes of those types of provisions." Endite

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