Romney's Massachusetts Tax Plan

On October 27, 2012 the President in Nashua, New Hampshire, on the Massachusetts (MA) border, said while Romney promised to fight for jobs and middle-class families when he ran for governor, he ended up…raising fees that hurt the middle class. Obama said - There were literally cradle-to-grave tax hikes and fees, there were higher fees to be a barber, to become a nurse, higher fees for gas, higher fees for blind people who needed to get a certificate (saying) that they were blind; rounding out the list was a fee on funeral homes. Obama who has been accused by members of the birther movement of being born outside the US joked that Romney even ‘‘raised fees to get a birth certificate, which would've been expensive for me.’’ Obama added that during Romney’s time as Governor only 3 states ranked lower in job creation than MA. Romney spokesman Ryan Williams called Obama’s criticism ‘‘laughable coming from a president whose only plan for a second term is to recycle the failed policies of the last 4 years.’’ Williams said Romney cut taxes 19 times as governor and created tens of thousands of new jobs. I’ll address taxes first - you judge whether or not he cut taxes.

Per Wikipedia MA raised $500 million in new revenue during Romney’s first year in office from fees, more than any other state surveyed; he proposed 33 new fees along with increases in 57 existing fees (they did include those cited by Obama); his proposal called for a $50 fee for tuberculosis tests and a $400 fee for those who tested positive (the tuberculosis fees were rejected by the legislature). Opponents said many of the fees posed a hardship on those who could least afford them and critics including some conservatives complained that Romney was using these fees increases as a tax increase in disguise after having promised he would not raise taxes. Romney said that the fees were distinct from taxes because fees were charged for particular services provided whereas taxes were assessed more broadly, without expectation of any specific services (critics noted this explanation applied to only some of the fees). (Does this argument sound familiar - the Republicans used it in trying to fight ObamaCare.) Romney increased the state gasoline fee 2 cents per gallon and generated about $60 million per year in additional revenue (surpluses of $40 million over the cost of the originally intended cleanup of contamination around underground fuel storage tank). The tax burden in MA during Romney's governorship according to an analysis by the Tax Foundation from 2002 to 2006 found the average rate of state and local taxes in MA rose from 9.6% to 10.2% compared to the national rate which rose from 9.5% to 9.7%. Romney did propose a "tax-free shopping day", a property tax relief for seniors, a manufacturing tax credit and working with the legislature, Romney developed the Massachusetts Military Enhanced Relief Individual Tax (MERIT) Plan to provide property tax exemptions for disabled veterans and grant spouses of veterans killed or missing in action since September 11, 2001 full property tax exemptions for 5 years; after 5 years the spouses received an annual $2,500 exemption; it was signed into law on August 14, 2006.