Do you want to cut taxes to fix more bridges


Gov. Romney: Fix It First

 

STEPHANOPOULOS: Governor Romney, do you want to cut taxes to fix more bridges?

 

ROMNEY: There's no question but that the biggest source of revenue for this country -- if you really want to make some money in this country, really get some money so we can repair our infrastructure and build for the future, the biggest source of that is a growing American economy.

 

If the economy is growing slowly, when tax revenues hardly move at all, and, boy, you better raise taxes to get more money for all the things you want to do. But if the economy is growing quickly, then we generate all sorts of new revenue.

 

And the best way to keep the economy rolling is to keep our taxes down. That is why I proposed that middle-income Americans ought to pay no taxes on their savings. Invest in the future of the economy. Growth helps us provide the revenue that we need.

 

Our bridges -- let me tell you what we did in our state. We found that we had 500 bridges, roughly, that were deemed structurally deficient. And so we changed how we focused our money. Instead of spending it to build new projects -- the bridge to nowhere, new trophies for congressmen -- we instead said, "Fix it first."

 

We have to reorient how we spend our money.