Mitt Romney will say anything to get elected- even distort his record as governor of Massachusetts. Despite his claim tonight that he cut taxes in Massachusetts, Romney raised taxes on individuals and businesses, created and increased fees on everything from driver’s licenses to firearms, and oversaw an increase in the state’s tax burden.

ROMNEY RAISED TAXES ON INDIVIDUALS AND BUSINESS

Romney Raised Fees As Governor; Romney Increased Fees By $400 Million And Raised Corporate Tax Revenue By $300 Million. “Mitt Romney has the fever, the George Herbert Walker Bush no-new-tax fever. Read his lips. No new taxes. But what about new fees?  On the presidential campaign trail, Romney brags about a $3 billion budget shortfall he said he closed as governor, without any tax increases. He doesn’t mention the more than $400 million in fees he raised instead. He also raised more than $300 million by closing so-called corporate loopholes, a revenue-raising measure the business community calls a tax increase.” [Boston Globe, 10/11/07]

·         Factcheck.org: Romney’s Fee And Tax Increases Were “Between $740 And $750 Million Per Year.” “As we’ve noted before when the subject of Romney’s fee vs. tax increases has come up, the Massachusetts Department of Administration and Finance says that fee increases during Romney’s tenure added up to $260 million per year, with another $174 million raised from closing some corporate tax "loopholes." The independent Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation puts the revenue total of fee hikes and tax loophole-closings at between $740 and $750 million a year.” [Factcheck.org, 1/31/08] 

·         Tax Foundation: Under Romney, Massachusetts’ Per-Capita Tax Burden Increased From 9.3% to 9.9% Or Increased $1,175.71. From a column by Deroy Murdock: “The Tax Foundation also calculated that, under Romney, Massachusetts' per-capita tax burden increased from 9.3 to 9.9 percent. In real dollars, the Romney-era per capita tax burden grew $1,175.71.” [Murdock Column, New Hampshire Union Leader, 1/6/12]

ROMNEY TARGETED THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY FOR REVENUE TO FILL BUDGET GAPS

Headline: “Seeking Taxes, Romney Went After Business” [New York Times, 10/2/11]

New York Times: By The End Of Romney’s Term Loophole Closures Required Companies To Pay About $370 Million A Year In Additional Taxes, A Nearly 20 Percent Increase From The Period Before He Took Office. “By the end of, Mr. Romney's term, the loophole measures required companies to pay about $370 million a year in additional taxes, a nearly 20 percent increase from the period before he took office, according to an analysis of government data by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a nonprofit research group that receives financing from corporations. The impact of closing the loopholes, which produced a relatively small fraction of state revenues, is an open question. ‘It cost us jobs,’ said David G. Tuerck, an economist at Suffolk University in Boston, though others say that is difficult to measure and subject to debate. During Mr. Romney's tenure, Massachusetts ranked near the bottom - 47th out of 50 states - in new job creation.” [New York Times, 10/2/11]

·         President Of The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation: “It’s Straightforward... He Raised Corporate Taxes.”  “‘It’s straightforward,’ said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a Boston-based research group, without hesitation. ‘He raised corporate taxes.’” [Bergen County Record, 12/7/07]

·         Romney’s Third Round Of Business Tax Hikes Were Cut In Half After Democrats Balked “Amid Protests From Some Of The State’s Leading Business Groups.” “But Romney’s claim that he balanced the state budget ‘without raising taxes’ needs plenty of caveats. Romney and his revenue chief, Alan LeBovidge, presided over a steady series of what they referred to as measures to close "tax loopholes" for companies. To many of the companies that had to pay more taxes, those loophole closings sure felt like tax increases. The Democrats who run the state Legislature went along with the first two rounds. But they started to balk when Round 3 arrived in 2005 amid protests from some of the state’s leading business groups, forcing the Romney administration to cut the proposed tax changes in half that year.” [Patriot Ledger, 1/26/08]

ROMNEY INCREASED THE DEBT BY 2.6 BILLION, 16.4%

[2003 Figure: Massachusetts Bond Official Statements, Pg. 44, 2/28/03]    
[2004 Figure: Massachusetts Bond Official Statements, Pg. 32-22, 3/4/04]
[2005 Figure: Massachusetts Bond Official Statements, Pg. 75, 3/8/05]
[2006 Figure: Massachusetts Bond Official Statements, Pg. 39, 2/28/06]
[2007 Figure: Massachusetts Bond Official Statements, Pg. 44, 11/10/06]

SPENDING UNDER ROMNEY INCREASED BY 6.5% ANNUALLY, AND PROPOSED EVEN HIGHER SPENDING INCREASES

State Spending Under Romney Increased By 6.5% Annually.  “So under Mr. Romney, state spending went from $22.3 billion to $28.1 billion, an annual increase of 6.5 percent. Adjusted for inflation, spending went from $20.7 billion to $21.6 billion, or a 1.1 percent increase.” [New York Times, 12/31/07]

·         Factcheck.org: It’s “Correct” That Romney Proposed 8% Higher Spending Per Person In Massachusetts. It “would have been correct to say, ‘Governor Romney proposed 8 percent higher spending per person in Massachusetts.’” [Factcheck.org, 10/12/07]

·         Romney Proposed Increased Spending By 10% In 2006. “Romney leaves out something else the Club for Growth noted: that much of his own fiscal discipline took place during the first half of his term as governor, when the state was facing budget deficits. In 2006, with state coffers once again flush, Romney proposed a 10 percent increase in spending.” [Factcheck.org, 10/12/07]