Romney attempted to impose a $10 fee for a state certificate of blindness and $15 for photo id card

[Amerigo Vespucci]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/24-fees-mitt-romney-tried-to-raise-in-massachusett

Romney attempted to impose a $10 fee for a state certificate of blindness and $15 for a photo id card, but the Legislature got rid of the plans.

Romney proposed a fee on mentally retarded citizens of $100 to pay for an intake assessment at the Department of Mental Retardation. The assessment was previously free. The test was to determine their eligibility for state services. The legislature rejected Romney's proposed fee.

Romney proposed a $50 fee for tuberculosis tests and wanted to charge a $400 fee if the person tested positive.

Romney proposed a $100 biannual fee on first responders for the ability to flash their vehicles lights. Romney doubled fees for the certification of EMTs from $75 to $150 per person. The cost of certifying an ambulance equipped for basic life support doubled from $200 to $400.

[malthaussen]

1. Well, government is business, nyet?

Isn't that their meme? One of the easiest ways to pump profit is to pump fees. Look at the banks.

-- Mal

[SoutherDem]

3. I was going to say they sound like a bank.

Since Romney loves fees, here is a fee. $50 fee for every $100 earned after you earn $1,000,000.

[MagickMuffin]

2. Big Government In Action

Who knew!

Gee, I wonder if any of this will make it to the big time "news" outlets?

[snacker]

4. Fees, fees, and more fees...

shame.

[freshwest]

5. Unfortunately, the concept of being 'disadvantaged' does not exist in Mitt's reality.

It's an insult to and an abuse of the poor, which Mitt and the GOP love creating, for their profits.

[salin]

6. he of the 'i don't worry about poor people... they have a safety net' - gaffe

looks like he also has a plan (among many) to make sure the poor get more poor, the middle class gets poor and the really rich live like Leona - not paying taxes.

[surrealAmerican]

7. Most of these are just plain cruel ...

... except for those which would be cruel AND a major threat to public health and safety.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

8. That one about tuberculosis is not just cruel, but bad policy

It would ensure that people who might have tuberculosis would not get tested, which is a surefire way to increase TB in Massachusetts. Whoever came up with the suggestion that TB tests should have a fee is stark, raving stupid.

[bullwinkle428]

9. Anyone really surprised by the blindness one, following that story about him

intentionally walking a blind person into a wall when he was younger?

[Tommykun]

11. For people so against taxes,

they sure as hell don't mind making random fees, which in all honesty are nothing more than "per use taxes." It's okay as long as its not that dreadful t-word and it's okay as long as a repug comes up with it.

[PCIntern]

12. But he'd reject a $10 tax on billionaires as "regressive"...

and punishing the rich.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

13. "He was struggling to close a budget gap without raising taxes"

So he tries to raise fees instead of taxes? I guess that sounds better to a Republican audience and, after all, what matters is how things sound and how we market them and not how things really are.