This 7.33% to 6.99% tax drop is more incredible when one takes into account that those rates include local taxes which went up during that period, particularly after his first year in office when he cut spending (after which he focused more on tax cuts rather than more spending cuts).

In fact Governor Romney cut taxes 19 times. ^[22]

The following article points out many of his successful tax cuts:

“He cut capital gains taxes, benefiting well over 150,000 residents. Thousands more are currently benefiting from new jobs in the biotech field because of Romney's manufacturing tax relief and because he made the investment tax credit permanent. Thousands of Massachusetts families saved their hard-earned dollars when Romney enacted sales tax holidays. Seniors are benefiting from property tax relief proposed and signed into law by Romney. Our honorable veterans and National Guard members have several new tax breaks because of Romney's belief that they should be taxed less. Commuters can now deduct expenses for travel because Romney believes they shouldn't be penalized for helping increase commerce.”

IMPROVED STATE'S CREDIT SCORE:

“Massachusetts saw its S&P rating rise to double-A from double-A-minus under Romney.”

“When Romney took office as Governor of Massachusetts, the S&P was threatening to downgrade the state’s debt. Romney met with them in their offices in New York, invited them up to Boston and met with them in his office, and laid out a debt reduction plan that instilled so much confidence in the S&P folks that they not only relented on the downgrade, they upgraded Massachusetts debt.”

Contrast that with Pres. Obama:

“This administration has set another landmark: For the first time, America’s bond rating has fallen from standard to negative and the country may lose its Standard & Poor’s AAA rating.”

Romney cautioned about that:

“ "The president really ought to personally sit down and meet with S&P," Romney said Wednesday on KCBQ radio. "I did that when I was governor; I met with the ratings agencies and talked about our future and tried to instill confidence in our future because, look, how they rate our debt and how they rate our future as a nation will affect the interest costs that we end up paying and will affect homeowners and borrowers all over the country." ”

JOB CREATION RECORD:

“Between January 2003 and December 2006, Massachusetts was one of seventeen states to accelerate its job growth every year (creating more jobs each year than were created the year before), and one of only two states — Illinois being the other — to accelerate its job growth by at least 20,000 jobs each year. Massachusetts was one of the top ten most-improved states (seventh overall) in terms of job creation, going from 49th in the nation in the first year of the Romney Administration to 36th in the nation in the last year.”

STATE DROPPED IN TAX-BURDEN RANKINGS:

During Governor Romney's tenure from 2003-7, Massachusetts dropped from 13th to 17th in national tax burden rankings. Gov. Romney created the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 budgets (and slashed spending in the existing 2003 budget as soon as he entered office). Massachusetts' combined state and local tax burden was the same in 2007, the year he left office, as it was in 2003 when he took office, at 9.9%.

However, he cut taxes while city and county governments within the state raised them, which along with Massachusetts residents being charged increased taxes by other states, caused a small bulge in the tax burden in the years in between. But the tax burden ended at the same level in the year of his final budget as in the year he entered office, with the help of the tax cuts that he made.

This improvement in tax burden rankings occurred while Massachusetts experienced the worst economic situation in the nation and had the highest ratio in the nation of democrats controlling the legislature, a veto-proof 85%, whose leadership stated intentions to raise taxes. (See record survey above and Taxes/Fees link above for details.)

Contrast that with other fmr. governors considering a 2012 presidential run:

• Rick Perry. Texas' tax burden increased 0.8% during his tenure, from 7.1% when he took office in 2000, to 7.9% in 2009 (the latest year data is available), maintaining the ranking of the 45th most taxed state in the nation.

• Tim Pawlenty. Minnesota's tax burden increased 1/2% during his tenure, from 9.8% when he took office in 2003, to 10.3% in 2009 (the latest year data is available), changing his state from the 17th most taxed state to the 7th most taxed state in the nation.

• Mike Huckabee. Arkansas' tax burden increased 0.7% during his tenure, from 9.3% when he took office in 1996, to 10% when he left in 2007, changing his state from the 33rd most taxed state to the 14th most taxed state in the nation.

• Sarah Palin. Alaska's tax burden increased 0.9% during her tenure, from 5.4% when she took office in 2006 to 6.3% when she left in 2009, maintaining the ranking of the state with the lowest tax burden in the nation.

• Charlie Crist. Florida's tax burden increased 0.4% during his tenure, from 8.8% when he took office in 2007 to 9.2% in 2009 (the latest year data is available), changing his state from the 36th most taxed state to the 31st most taxed state in the nation.

The tax burden on citizens of each state include the taxes they must pay their own state and that they must pay other states.

As noted in the 'Record as Governor' section above, taxes that Massachusetts citizens actually paid to Massachusetts dropped during Mitt Romney's term in office from 7.33% to 6.99% although the overall tax burden started and ended at 9.9%, due to other states taxing Massachusetts residents more, from 2.6% of their income to 2.9%.

By contrast:

• The taxes Texas citizens paid to Texas increased over 0.4% from 5.15% in 2000 to 5.56% in 2009 (the last year data was available) under Rick Perry's watch for a total tax burden increase on Texas residents from 7.1% to 7.9%.

• The taxes Minnesota citizens paid to Minnesota increased over 0.4% from 7.37% in 2003 to 7.78% in 2009 (the last year data was available) under Tim Pawlenty's watch for a total tax burden increase on Minnesota residents from 9.8% to 10.3%.

• Taxes Alaska residents paid to Alaska went up by over 1.25% during Sarah Palin's watch, from 2.78% in 2006 to 4.04% in 2009, while taxes Alaska residents paid to other states dropped from 2.6% to 2.3% for a combined increase from 5.4% to 6.3%.

• Arkansas taxes increased under Mike Huckabee's watch from 6.69% in 1996 to 7.27% in 2007, over half a percent increase. The combined tax burden on an Arkansas resident of taxes paid to Arkansas and to other states went up from 9.3% to 10% during that time.

• Taxes paid to Florida by its citizens increased over 0.4% under Charlie Crist's watch, from 6% in 2007 to 6.44% in 2009 (the last year data was available). The total state and local tax burden Florida citizens experienced, including taxes paid to other states, went from 8.8% to 9.2% since they paid a little smaller percentage of their income in taxes to other states.

STATE ECONOMICALLY RANKED #1:
With Increased Lead During Romney's term in office

“The U.S. is in the midst of its third major economic transformation of the last 120 years, equivalent in scope and depth to the emergence of the factory economy in the 1890s and the mass-production, corporate economy in the 1940s and 1950s. This means states must act decisively to encourage entrepreneurship or be left behind in this New Economy...

“The study, based on similar ITIF studies in 1999 and 2002, uses 26 indicators—such as educational attainment of the workforce and number of new startups and business failures—to provide detailed rankings on how states are adapting to the challenges of a global, entrepreneurial, and knowledge-based economy...

“The state farthest along the path to the New Economy is Massachusetts. Topping the list in 1999 and 2002, Massachusetts' lead over other states in 2007 has increased—with a concentration of software, hardware, and biotech firms supported by universities such as MIT, Harvard, and others. The state had the fourth-highest increase in per capita income, according to the study.”

Page 13 shows overall scores— Massachusetts #1 with score of 96.1, up from 94.5 in 2002 when Romney won office

The 2nd place state's score was approximately 10% lower at 86.4, down from the 2nd place score in 2002 of 90.1

In other words, during Romney's term in office, Massachusetts score increased by 1.6 with a spread increase of 5.3 over the 2nd place state, from a 4.4 spread to 9.7 spread

Abstract of study, with download options:

By Contrast:

During the same period above, while Perry was governor, Texas slipped from a score of 75.3 to 68.6, dropping from 10th place to 14th place.

Texas continued to slide, dropping to a score of 63 in 2010, dropping to 16th place:

COMPARING REAGAN AND ROMNEY

“Ronald Reagan raised taxes as governor of California, imposing a $1 billion tax increase his first year in office. It was the largest tax hike by a governor in the nation's history, raising income, corporate, sales and inheritance taxes. Five years later, Reagan raised taxes again by another $1.5 billion...

“But even Reagan didn't stop the growth of state government: While he was governor of California, the budget increased from $4.6 billion to $10.2 billion...

“Every single budget Romney submitted included income tax cuts -- all of which were rejected by the 85-percent Democratic Legislature. (The last time Massachusetts legislators approved an income tax cut was when it was attached to a bill raising their own salaries by 55 percent.) ...

“He cut state spending by $600 million, including reducing his own staff budget by $1.2 million, and hacked the largest government agency, Health and Human Services, down from 13 divisions to four. He did this largely by persuading the Legislature to give him emergency powers his first year in office to cut government programs without their consent.

“Although Romney was not able to get any income tax cuts past the Democratic Legislature, he won other tax cuts totaling nearly $400 million, including a one-time capital gains tax rebate and a two-day sales tax holiday for all purchases under $2,500.

“He also vetoed more bills than any other governor in Massachusetts history, before or since. He vetoed bills concerning access to birth control, more spending on state zoos, and the creation of an Asian-American commission -- all of which were reversed by the Legislature.”