Romney: Obama 'Did Not' Raise Taxes
Mitt Romney strayed from his own campaign's talking points during a "reset" rally with running mate Paul Ryan today in Ohio.
In the midst of remarks otherwise ridiculing the president's tax record, Romney said: "I admit this, [President Obama] has one thing he did not do in his first four years - he's said he's going to do in the next four years, which is to raise taxes."
Behind him, Ryan appeared to wince at the mention.
During the primaries, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul offered a very different view of the presidents record, when she told the L.A. Times: "President Obama has raised taxes 19 times."
Indeed, Republicans have spent much of the election season criticizing Obama for adding to the middle class tax burden, most recently citing in a campaign email blast the 6 million Americans expected to face a tax penalty for violating the Affordable Care Act's insurance mandate.
"The president has raised taxes on the middle class, as determined by the Supreme Court," Romney said in August, referring to the high court's decision to uphold Obama's health care law based on Congress's constitutional authority to levy taxes.
The Romney campaign offered a correction tonight.
"President Obama has raised taxes on millions of middle-class Americans during his first term in office," spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said in a statement. "Governor Romney was clearly communicating about an additional tax increase President Obama is proposing on American small businesses that will jeopardize over 700,000 jobs. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will stop the President's tax increases, create 12 million new jobs, and turn our economy around."