Mitt Romney, who is going to be running for president announced today that he WILL NOT raise taxes if he becomes president. I just received this release from his Exploratory Office:


Demonstrating his commitment to oppose any effort to increase taxes on the American people, Governor Romney has signed Americans For Tax Reform's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge." As part of his pledge, Governor Romney will "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates" and "oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits."

Governor Romney believes that by keeping taxes low and simplifying the tax code, we can grow the economy and enhance American competitiveness. These fundamental economic beliefs and principles led Governor Romney to become the first potential 2008 pres,idential candidate to sign Americans for Tax Reform's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge."

It's a smart move by Romney. 2008 will be all about controlling one's image. He needs to show to people that he's a Reagan conservative. There's a void out there in the Republican field when it comes to a Reagan type so these type of moves help.

On taxes, Romney failed in his efforts to roll back the state’s income tax rate to 5 percent, the level voters called for in a 2000 referendum.

But he won a significant victory in 2005 when he persuaded the Legislature not to impose a retroactive capital gains tax increase on investors.

That, according to Barbara Anderson, a leading antitax activist in Massachusetts, is indicative of one important value of Romney: what he prevented from happening just by being in office.

"People ... know what Romney did," she said. "They don’t have any way of knowing what he prevented from happening."