Mitt Romney defends his stance on taxes, rejecting revenue hike

Bob Schieffer of CBS framed his question for Romney around the fact that contenders for the Republican nomination (Romney included) had backed a controversial pledge created by antitax advocate Grover Norquist. "Government is big and getting larger," Romney said in defense of his position. "There are those who think the answer is just to take a little more from the American people, just give us a little more. And there are places that have gone that way: California, for instance, keeps raising taxes more and more and more. And funny thing, the more they raise in taxes, the deficits get larger and larger."

Whichever side is right about tax policy, economists agree on one point: Regardless of tax rates, government revenues hang to a significant degree on the performance of the economy. If jobs and incomes start growing faster, that will be good for tax revenues.

The recession showed what happens to tax revenues in a bad economy: Revenue fell sharply as a share of GDP.

A split in public opinion on taxes is visible in polls, including one taken by Quinnipiac University last fall, as the congressional “super committee” sought a deficit-cutting deal. The poll asked if a deal "should include some increases in tax revenue or should it include only cuts in government spending?" In the context of that budget debate, 49 percent of registered voters said they'd favor spending cuts only, while 39 percent supported some tax hikes and the rest were unsure.

In his Sunday appearance, Romney also sought to insulate himself against the critique that Republican tax policies aim mainly to benefit the rich. The presumptive Republican nominee said the tax code should remain progressive, with high earners paying at least the same share of the nation’s taxes as they do now.

Romney's bus tour spans communities in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Those are states that Obama won in 2008, and where political analysts say Romney must score some wins if he hopes to win in November.

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