Mitt Romney – Increases Taxes & Increases Regulation – Let’s Look At The Facts

Mitt Romney was Governor Governor of Massachusetts from 2002-2007, a time of unprecedented prosperity. Romney constantly puts himself forward as a low tax, low regulation candidate but let us look at the facts.

1. Romney On Regulation For Small Business

On increasing fees and taxes in Massachusetts

Some of these fees included were service fees, such as charging businesses more to put up signs.

2. Romney On Tax Increases

Romney approved $128 million in tax changes such as sales tax from purchases on the Internet^[15] and raised another $181 million in additional business taxes in the next two years;

Sources
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/specials/romney/articles/part6_main/?page=full
http://web.archive.org/web/20060522071230/http://www.massbudget.org/article.php?id=376

In 2005, Romney signed legislation allowing local commercial property taxes to be raised, which resulted in $100 million more in property taxes from local business owners

http://www.democrats.org/a/2007/03/in_wake_of_tax.php

In 2002, the state passed a capital gains tax increase that was scheduled to take effect on May 1 of that year.^[21]A taxpayers’ group challenged the law in court, arguing that a tax increase must take effect at the beginning or end of a year, and in 2005 the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in their favor.^[21] The court held that the tax increase was effective beginning January 1, 2002, which effectively imposed an additional $200 million in “retroactive” state taxes on gains realized during the first four months of 2002

Source http://myclob.pbwiki.com/12-08-2005

3. Romney On Creating A Budget Surplus

Upon leaving office, Romney argued that he had left the state with a large budget surplus, after he cut hundreds of millions of dollars of programs. However, successor Governor Deval Patrick said there would be a $1 billion deficit if existing service levels are carried over into the next year’s budget.^[30] It would be Patrick who would propose the spending level of that budget

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/01-07/01-17-07/03state-region.htm