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Chronology of Mitt Romney’s Views
on Taxes
The RED font
highlights his pro-tax actions / statements.
The
BLUE font highlights his anti-tax
actions / statements.
-
Romney refused to sign the "No New Tax" pledge during the 2002 campaign
for Governor.
- “Higher taxes are simply not an
option for my administration, for working families or for the hundreds
of small businesses who are struggling. It is time for reform."
said Romney. (Press Release 4/22/03)
-
“Romney’s blind eye to nearly $100 million in new tax revenues the
budget actually contemplates suggests the Republican governor wilds a
selective description of the word “tax.”” (Boston
Herald 6/27/03)
-
“Bay state motorists have
quietly been forced to swallow a 2-cent hike in the gas tax since April,
after the Romney administration signed off on a 400 percent increase in
an obscure petroleum cleanup fund.”
(Boston Herald 6/27/03)
-
Romney signs a property tax
reclassification bill letting cities and towns hike taxes on local
businesses. (Boston
Herald January 17, 2004)
-
“In fiscal 2005, the only Romney
loophole proposal the Legislature rejected was a plan to raise taxes on
hotel rooms rented over the Internet through such travel discounters as
Expedia.com and Travelocity.com. The loophole Romney was aiming to
close allowed the hotels to remit to the state an occupancy tax based on
the discount hoteliers offered the Internet firms, not the marked-up
rate ultimately charged to consumers. Some $18 million would have come
the state’s way if Romney had his way. Everyone knows that one way or
another travelers would be the ones paying the difference.”
(Boston Herald 12/21/04)
- “Gov backtracks on tax
reform” “His administration was a virtual no-show at Tuesday’s Revenue
Committee hearing on Romney’s original bill to close some $170 million
in corporate tax loopholes. Apparently no one in the administration
wanted to explain why the governor was now supporting only $85 million
in such loophole closings. The committee got only a barebones letter
about the substitute bill from Revenue Commissioner Alan LeBovidge.”
(Boston Herald 4/7/05)
-
“You don’t create economic prosperity by raising taxes.” Governor
Mitt Romney, (National Review June 2005)
- "Mr.
Romney, who closed a $2 billion hole in the Massachusetts budget without
raising taxes (fees, however, increased by
$260 million; and corporate tax loopholes were eliminated, yielding
another $255 million), derided Washington for "spending too much
money." Asserting that "pork is always dispiriting," the governor
elicited a wave of applause when he cogently observed that "pork being
spent at a time of war is particularly dispiriting." In
its "Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2004," the Cato
Institute gave Mr. Romney an overall grade of C. Perhaps related
to the fact that a Massachusetts governor faces a Democratic-dominated
(roughly 85 percent) legislature, Mr. Romney
received a spending grade of D from Cato." (National Review
3/15/06)
- “I
don’t like taxes. I think we need less government, not more government.”
Governor Mitt Romney. (March 2006 Interview with Mort Kondracke)
- “Almost five years
after he refused to sign a “no new taxes” pledge during his campaign for
governor, Mitt Romney announced yesterday that he had done just that“.
Asked about the discrepancy between Romney’s position now and in 2002,
Kevin Madden, a spokesman for Romney’s campaign, said
that Romney raised taxes as governor.”
(Boston Globe 1/5/07)
- “Trimarco is pushing
to raise the tax by 10 cents over three
years, with the rate linked to inflation to allow for future
increases.” (Boston Herald 1/18/07)
Trimarco was a Romney appointee.
-
“Yes, former Romney Secretary of Administration and
Finance Tom Trimarco and Mary Connaughton now think it’s just a nifty
idea to raise the gasoline tax 10 cents so
the state can take down the tolls on the entire Massachusetts
Turnpike.” (Boston Herald 1/19/07)
-
“After refusing to endorse President Bush’s tax cuts when
he was governor, Mitt Romney has now made
them a central part of his presidential campaign, stirring accusations
that he is changing his position to appeal to GOP primary voters.” “In
2003, Romney stunned a roomful of Bay State congressmen by telling them
that he would not publicly support Bush’s tax cuts,
which at the time formed the centerpiece of the president’s domestic
agenda. He even said he was open to a federal gas tax hike.” “The
tax-averse Cato Institute gave Romney a “C” on its 2006 fiscal report
card, saying the former governor acted aggressively to combat
overspending, but failed to hold the line on taxes.” (Boston
Herald 2/8/07)
Additional
information will be posted to this chronology as it occurs. |
