But he cut taxes NINETEEN times. Heard him brag about it in the debates. Been wondering when someone would post a list of those nineteen cuts.
(no links)
When is a tax increase not really a tax increase ?
Sunday Republican (Springfield, MA) - Sunday, March 2, 2003
Author: STAFF: Sunday Republican (Springfield)
If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it must be ..... a fee increase?
Gov. W. Mitt Romney promised not to raise taxes, but he never said anything about fees.
Romney will ask the Legislature to create 33 new fees and increase 57 others as part of his 2004 budget package. Altogether, the fees would raise nearly $59 million.
The governor insists they are not taxes.
Accountants, number crunchers and others who do this sort of thing for a living may agree with Romney ‘s working definition of fees, but the distinction will be lost on the people will pay them if the Legislature approves the governor’s package.
“I’m not going to try and be the dictionary here, in terms of defining the difference between a fee and a tax,” Romney said. “For me, generally, a fee is something which applies to a subset of the population. A tax is something which is far more broadly applied.”
As the governor suggests, comparing taxes with fees may be like comparing apples with oranges - at least to a budget writer.
(snip)
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Pump it up! Goosing the gas tax with Mitt
Boston Herald (MA) - Friday, April 11, 2003
Author: Cosmo MACERO, Jr.
Poor Angelo Scaccia.
The Democratic state rep from Boston’s Readville section just can’t get respect for proposing a gas tax increase with prices at the pumps near record levels.
If only lawmakers could slip these tax hikes in without the public noticing.
Like Mitt Romney just did.
Surprise!
Gov. Romney ‘s administration is whacking motorists with the equivalent of a 2-cent-a-gallon gas tax hike, thanks to a little-known fund that pays for cleaning spills and underground leaks at local filling stations.
Gas wholesalers pay a fee into the fund for every 10,000 gallons they deliver to retail filling stations in Massachusetts. As of April 1, on the Romney crew’s say-so, the fee went from $50 for every 10,000 gallons to . . . $250.
That stunning fivefold increase looks particularly onerous when you break it down to the per-gallon cost: from a half-cent per gallon to 2 1/2 cents in one fell swoop.
What it means: At least $30 million a year to the cleanup fund for every penny the fee is increased.
“It’s a nice little backdoor tax increase ,” is how one former state official explains it.
(snip)