Romney Declaration on Health Mandate Tax May Boomerang

Mitt Romney’s assertion that President Barack Obama’s mandate to buy health insurance amounts to a tax increase may boomerang by opening the presumptive Republican nominee to the same charge.

As governor of Massachusetts, Romney championed a state health-care plan with a similar mandate to buy insurance -- one he says today should be described as a penalty not a tax boost. He also raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the Massachusetts budget by ending some tax benefits for businesses and approving higher fees on professional licenses and identification cards for the blind.