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Statements & Endorsements
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| MITT ROMNEY'S TAX RECORD AS GOVERNOR: |
In 2002, Massachusetts' economy was rapidly deteriorating and the state government's deficit spending was growing (economic.htm). Antitax activist Barbara Anderson recalled:
“I was one of those who called Salt Lake City during the Olympics and begged him to come home to run, ...we taxpayers really needed a grown-up in the corner office. He hadn't planned to be that person, but after much urging on the part of many citizens, he gave in.”
By the time Mitt Romney took office as governor of Massachusetts, the current budget was running a deficit of approximately half a billion dollars [1], with about $650 million of deficit spending left to go before that budget expired.
And the upcoming state budget for the year would have a deficit of nearly $3 billion if the budget was not cut or taxes increased. [2]
Senate President Robert E. Travaglini expressed the view that
“taxes will have to be raised to cope with the budget crisis, and said he and his Senate colleagues will lead the charge for new revenues...
“Travaglini's remarks point toward an almost inevitable collision between the new Senate leader and the governor, since Romney has vowed to veto any tax hike that reaches his desk.”
Governor Romney held firm and balanced the budget every year without raising taxes. [3]
He fought to roll back the state income tax from 5.3% to 5.0% and created budgets based on a 5% income tax rate. [4]
The legislature refused to reduce the tax rate, and by the end of his term, he had taken "Massachusetts from billions in deficit to billions in surplus". [5]
And he also succeeded in getting tax cuts. USATODAY reported "Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, signed a law that creates the nation's biggest tax holiday. All retail sales under $2,500 will be exempt from the state's 5% sales tax Aug. 12-13." [6]
And when the legislature tried to raise the capital gains taxes, he not only successfully opposed it, [7]
but he also got the capital gains taxes cut. [8]
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Jim Cramer - TheStreet.com
Plays Hardball about Romney
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But Governor Romney did raise some fees. Some critics have overstated the impact this had on the taxpayer, most of whom were not directly effected if effected at all, with one exception, as raising broad-based fees were avoided. Fees were raised on some business or individual services in an effort to cover the cost of services the fees were charged for, as in this case:
“Governor Mitt Romney is raising fees on the use of state golf courses ... it's fair to ask golfers to pay for the cost of maintaining these facilities rather than expecting taxpayers to subsidize them.”
However, until he was able to implement his healthcare reform, he also raised a fee to health insurers which upset the Citizens for Limited Taxation. [9]
When all was said and done, Barbara Anderson, Executive Director of Citizens for Limited Taxation concluded, ''I've never liked most corporate loopholes anyhow -- especially when the corporations oppose "people tax cuts." And while I don't like fees on top of all our taxes, I don't equate them with user fees.'' [10] As National Review reported,
“He [Gov. Romney] says, "we stayed away from broad-based fee increases such as driver's-license registrations." He says that balancing the budget without a tax hike has been his most significant accomplishment as governor. "We couldn't be happier with him," says Barbara Anderson of Citizens for Limited Taxation, the state's leading taxpayer group. Steve Adams of Boston's Pioneer Institute, a think tank, concurs: "Without Romney, we would have been slapped with a lot of new taxes." ”
Under the governor's leadership, the people in the state benefited not only by increased employment through the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs [11] and not having their taxes raised, but they also saw several more tax cuts by the governor, as the following article pointed out:
“He cut capital gains taxes, benefiting well over 150,000 residents. Thousands more are currently benefiting from new jobs in the biotech field because of Romney's manufacturing tax relief and because he made the investment tax credit permanent. Thousands of Massachusetts families saved their hard-earned dollars when Romney enacted sales tax holidays. Seniors are benefiting from property tax relief proposed and signed into law by Romney. Our honorable veterans and National Guard members have several new tax breaks because of Romney's belief that they should be taxed less. Commuters can now deduct expenses for travel because Romney believes they shouldn't be penalized for helping increase commerce.”
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| GETTING THE FACTS (ONE EXAMPLE) |
WHAT WAS DONE: (Commuter Costs)
“Commuters can now deduct expenses for travel because Romney believes they shouldn't be penalized for helping increase commerce.”
“In the 20-minute live televised address, Romney laid out his agenda for 2005, which includes... merging the Turnpike Authority in a way that provides substantial and meaningful toll relief.
“For the last two years, I have asked for the Turnpike Authority to be merged into the state Highway Department. You know I don't give up easy. So, it's coming again, but with a big difference: This year, I will propose that all the savings from the merger go toward toll relief. The toll burden on the people of Western and Central Massachusetts is simply unfair and we all know it.”
“Merger savings that will be redirected to toll relief are estimated at $170 million in the first year and $20 million every year thereafter.
“Saying that the budget he submits later this month will be structurally balanced without drawing on reserves or relying on one-time funds, Romney said there will still be room to lower the income tax from 5.3 to 5 percent consistent with the will of the voters.”
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“Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is proposing to abolish tolls on the state turnpike over most of its length. Tolls would only remain within the Boston Extension and the three tunnels under Boston Harbor, and a task force report suggests Boston Extension tolls also be abolished...
“Romney proposes that tolls west of Route 128 end on June 30 2007, an action he says can be accomplished by the MTA board of directors. Toll abolition on the Boston Extension requires legislation...
“The plan is claimed to save $69m to $105m a year in cutting overlapping operations costs, toll collection costs and debt service...
“Current toll revenues at the Turnpike are $334m, ...
“Against this year's $334m the Turnpike is incurring expenses of $270m for an operating income of only $64m. The task force projects expenses as rising steadily with rising health insurance costs a major factor while toll revenue grows a feeble 1.5%/yr and an operating deficit occurs in 2008...
“This is the biggest detolling in the US since the abolition of tolls on the Connecticut Turnpike in the mid-1980s. Tolls were abolished there after a tragedy in which a family in a van was incinerated in a fire caused by a rear-end collision at a mainline toll plaza...
“ROMNEY, HEALEY: TAKE DOWN TOLLS ON WESTERN TURNPIKE ...
“The Turnpike Authority is a mess, with an expensive cost structure and no ability to sustain itself except through higher and higher toll increases in perpetuity. This is not fair to the residents who live west of Boston and are bearing a disproportionate share of the cost of the Big Dig. It's time we start to dismantle this highly inefficient system.” (Gov. Romney)
“ "The Romney-Healey Administration has made toll relief a priority, and gaining control of the Turnpike Authority several months ago has allowed us to take some creative approaches to realize this goal," said Turnpike Board Chairman John Cogliano. "This is great news for people who ride the Western Turnpike."
“The Turnpike Authority board has the legal authority to act on its own, without legislative approval, and today the board voted unanimously to begin the process.
“Driving the decision are two main factors: 1) the inefficiency of toll collection, where the revenue collected is not justified by the high costs, and 2) the unfairness of asking western Turnpike toll payers to subsidize the eastern portion, the so-called 'Metropolitan Highway System' that consists of the Central Artery, the airport tunnels and the Boston Extension.”
“The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board gave tentative approval Wednesday to eliminating all tolls on the roadway west of Route 128, both as a cost-saving measure and to satisfy drivers who have complained the state should have eliminated them years ago...
“ "The western drivers of Massachusetts have been ripped off, and it just doesn't make sense to keep that going on in the future," the governor said at a Statehouse news conference less than two hours after the board vote. "The people in western Mass. and central Mass. ought to have the same deal as the rest of the state."
“Most of the remaining 3,000 miles of highway in Massachusetts do not have tolls, including major commuting routes such as Interstates 93 and 495, as well as Routes 3 and 128. The Turnpike is the major east-west artery in western and central Massachusetts, limiting alternatives for cost-conscious commuters...
“Under the current setup, drivers in western Massachusetts pay more in tolls than it costs to operate the Turnpike in their portion of the state, meaning they are subsidizing Turnpike operations in eastern Massachusetts and the rest of the Metropolitan Highway System in Boston, which also is under Turnpike control.
“The proposal to eliminate tolls was drafted by Eric Kriss, the state's former finance secretary. He has been heading a panel reviewing Turnpike finances since Romney took control of the agency in mid-August following the ouster of Chairman Matthew Amorello. He resigned in the aftermath of a fatal Big Dig tunnel collapse in July.
“Kriss found that nearly a third of what is collected at toll booths is needed to pay for the actual manual collection of the tolls.
“Kriss said lost toll receipts would be offset by laying off about 200 Turnpike toll collectors, as well as by shifting administrative and maintenance responsibilities for that portion of the 138-mile roadway to the state Highway Department.”
“Top Romney administration officials conceded yesterday that the final decision will probably be made by the leaders of the Democrat-controlled Legislature and the incoming Democratic governor, Deval L. Patrick, who have expressed reservations about the plan that would end tolls on the 120-mile stretch of the turnpike from the New York line to Weston.
“ "If the Legislature and Deval Patrick want to keep the tolls up, then there's no question they will find a way to do it," said Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's director of communications...
“With the majority of board members appointed by Romney, the authority could vote to remove the tolls over Patrick's objection. In that case, the governor-elect would have several routes to block the removal. The Legislature could expand the board to give Patrick control. Patrick will probably control a required state environmental review of the plan and any agreement by the Highway Department to accept the section of the road from Weston to the New York border as part of its network.”
“After meeting for 4 1/2 hours behind closed doors, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority board voted to slowly "move forward" with a controversial plan to remove all tolls on a 120-mile stretch of the road from Route 128 west of Boston to the New York State line...
“Governor-elect Deval Patrick said again this morning that he was opposed to any quick removal of the tolls without considering other transportation revenue issues. He is expected to use his gubernatorial powers to try to block any move by the board to implement the policy...
“Eric Fernstrom, a spokesman for the Romney administration, stood by the plan, saying toll collection was inefficient on the western Turnpike. The cost cuts are necessary to close a budget gap that is estimated to grow to $16 billion in the next 20 years, Fernstrom said.
“Romney wasn't able to accomplish all that he hoped, due to opposition from the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature. For example, Romney discovered that collecting tolls on the Massachusetts Turnpike cost 30 cents for every $1 collected, in part because the toll collectors' union contract, which gives the collectors an average $56,300 a year in wages plus $9,880 in benefits. The Massachusetts legislature did not want to take on the union and lose a source of political patronage, however.
“Romney's bottom line in Massachusetts: He erased the budget deficit he inherited when he took over, just as he'd done with the Olympics.
“When Romney left office on Jan. 4, 2007, the Bay State had a balanced budget plus a "rainy day fund" - all without ever raising taxes.”
“One major fee hike was clearly excessive - a 2-cent-per-gallon increase in a special gasoline fee, implemented during the fiscal crisis without fanfare, even though it affects every motorist in the state.
“The increase generates about $60 million per year for a program to clean up contamination around underground fuel storage tanks, but since its inception has produced surpluses of more than $40 million a year above the actual cost of the program, according to a report done by the Department of Revenue in response to a Globe request.
“Raised from half a cent to 2.5 cents per gallon in April 2003, ostensibly to pay for a backlog of cleanup claims, the fee is on top of the 21-cent-per-gallon state tax on gasoline.”
Nationally, there is an “average state tax of 28.6 cents per gallon.”
WHAT WAS SAID: (Commuter Costs)
“Romney faced a budget shortfall upon entering office but left with a surplus, in part by raising taxes (2-cents on gasoline).”
“Romney also quintupled the per gallon delivery fee for gasoline (money that is supposed to be for cleaning up any leaks from underground fuel tanks).”
In the two sample articles (which represent fairly typical reporting on the governor), there is no mention of the attempted and successful commuter tax and fee cuts.
And there is not any accurate perspective provided on the fee hike, such as that he removed a $3B deficit while not raising taxes yet dealing with a veto-proof legislature that wanted tax hikes over spending cuts and that (in the case of the first article) the 2 cent fee was insignificant in that effort, or (in the case of the 2nd article) that a quintuple fee hike amounted to 2 cents!
There was no context for the fee hike that was given in those articles, including that there was a backlog of contaminated sites to be cleaned that the fee increase was intended to eliminate, and after the backlog was cleared the extra money generated was not spent, but saved with other surplus funds which he tried to give back to the taxpayer in the form of major tax cuts (state income tax cuts and others).
All that indicates a bias in the reporting that gives the reader a skewed perspective. It comes in the form of ignoring important facts that reflect more positively while negatively reporting less significant facts, often with exaggerations or fabrications.
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