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In a rare appearance on a Sunday morning political talk show Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney declared emphatically that if he were elected he would not give tax breaks to the wealthy. Instead he would close loopholes that rich taxpayers now take advantage of, in order to generate much-needed additional revenue.
The interview was broadcast on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, but recorded previously on Friday and Saturday immediately before. Romney insisted in the strongest language that Republicans are getting a bad-rap when it comes to their concern for hard-working middle-income Americans.
“We care very deeply about this country. Those people who try to minimize the feeling and the connection we have with the American people really miss the mark,” Romney emphasized. Ann, his wife was sitting by his side as they were traveling along on his campaign bus. This was the first interview Romney gave to NBC’s “Meet the Press” since 2009.
In what was one of Romney’s most detailed interviews that he has given recently, he did not shy away from discussing balancing the budget, tax cuts, the auto industry bailout, Medicare and foreign policy.
However, when he was asked directly Romney did not offer any new details about his policies beyond what is already well-known. He did stress that he absolutely will not cut taxes for the rich, and he will not raise taxes for America’s middle-income citizens.
“I’m not going to increase the tax burden on middle-income families,” Romney said. “It would absolutely be wrong to do that.”
When David Gregory, NBC’s interviewer, asked Romney to describe one of the loopholes which would be closed in the Tax Code for America’s wealthy taxpayers, Romney did not have an example.
“Well, I can tell you that people at the high end, high-income taxpayers, are going to have fewer deductions and exemptions,” Romney said. “Those numbers are going to come down. Otherwise, they’d get a tax break. And I want to make sure people understand, despite what the Democrats said at their convention, I am not reducing taxes on high-income taxpayers.”
