"Romney Used Fee Hikes to Trim Budget"

[in_cog_ni_to]

Romney Used Fee Hikes to Trim Budget
By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press Writer

2 hours ago

Republican presidential hopeful and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney ...

BOSTON - When Mitt Romney wanted to balance the Massachusetts budget, the blind, mentally retarded and gun owners were asked to help pay.

The Republican managed to slash spending to eliminate a deficit pegged at $3 billion, but he also proposed or presided over a far-ranging series of fee hikes _ a strategy that allowed him to maintain the no-new-taxes stance he now boasts about as he runs for president.

In all, then-Gov. Romney proposed creating 33 new fees and increasing 57 others _ enough, he said, to pull in an extra $59 million for the cash-strapped state.

Horseback riding instructors, prisoners, those seeking training to combat domestic violence and used car shoppers were asked to dig a little deeper.

<snip>
hundreds of millions in higher fees and fines, making it more expensive to use an ice skating rink, register a boat, take the bar exam, get a duplicate driver's license, file a court case, install underground storage tanks, sell cigarettes or alcohol, comply with air quality rules and transport hazardous waste.<snip>

<snip>
"It's a shell game," said Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. "He can still say he didn't raise taxes, but fees are taxes by another name. It's a trick."

Two proposed fees that drew some of the most criticism would have imposed a new $10 charge on those seeking a certification of blindness from the state and another $15 fee for photo identification cards for the blind. They were approved by lawmakers, but later repealed.<snip>

http://www.comcast.net/news/politics/index.jsp?cat=POLITICS&fn=/2007/08/28/749937.html

[DS1]

1. Romney's a turd on two legs, but 59 million out of 3 billion is peanuts

[pansypoo53219]

2. Tommy fucking Thompson

did the same thing in WI. and automatic tax hikes, like on gas. fees fees fees.
sounds like a fucking duck.

[bicentennial_baby]

3. Yep...and look at our wonderful

*mandatory* health insurance policy that he gave us. The one that many people cannot afford, so they get fucked at tax time instead. x(