Why did you raise fees and fines as Governor

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Gov. Romney: A Record Of Cutting Taxes

MR. WALLACE: Governor Romney, you have taken the pledge. You like to say that you don’t just talk about budgets, but in fact you actually had to operate one as governor of Massachusetts. But according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in your first year as governor you raised fees and fines by half a billion dollars, including fees paid by the blind, by gun owners, by those seeking training against domestic violence and even by used car shoppers. In fact, the Associated Press says you earned a nickname back then in Massachusetts, it was FeFe. (Laughter.)

How do you respond, sir?

MR. ROMNEY: Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard that, Chris, but it’s pretty good. As a matter of fact, a

little exaggeration. The total fees raised were $260 million, and that’s a big number. We had a $3 billion budget gap. The Democrats -- you probably know that Massachusetts is a bit of a Democratic state -- the Democrats wanted to raise taxes, I said no way. And in fact, we did not raise taxes on our citizens, and we lowered them across the state time and again.

We put an investment tax credit permanently in place. We provided help to senior citizens on real estate taxes. We changed the capital gains tax increase to a capital gains tax refund. So I’m proud of what we were able to do to lower taxes.

I’m also going to lower taxes for the American people. And that’s the key thing. Right now you can listen to the Democrats. Their pledge is clear. They’re going to raise taxes. I want to lower them, make the Bush tax cuts permanent, kill the death tax once and for all -- (cheers, applause) -- and a savings plan -- a savings plan -- a savings plan for middle-income Americans. If you earn less than $200,000 a year, the new tax rate on interest, dividends and capital gains ought to be absolutely zero. (Applause.)

And by the way, John Edwards has his own savings plan for the middle class. He says you can save $250 a year tax-free. Whoop-de- do. That’s not going to buy you retirement. It’s not going to buy you a house. And someone yelled out it’s not going to buy him a haircut, either. (Laughter, applause.)