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Mitt Romney has attacked Rudy Giuliani for opposing a line item veto and a cut in the commuter tax as mayor. In response, the Giuliani campaign just held a conference call with a surrogate, another former Republican Massachusetts Governor, Paul Cellucci.

Cellucci called Romney's attacks an act of "desperation,"and said Giuliani's record on taxes was far better than Romney's.

While Giuliani cut taxes 23 times and offered borad based tax relief, Romney did not sign any broad-based tax cuts (the best that can be said is he offered sales tax holidays and limited capital gains tax relief). Furthermore, he increased fees by $500 million and closed loopholes, resulting in a 10 percent hike in the state's tax burden. Ironically, one of the loopholes Romney closed increased taxes on out of state residents who worked or had businesses in Massuchusetts, Cellucci said, arguing that it was far worse than what Rudy did with the NY commuter tax, which was already on the books.

Cellucci said that Giuliani didn't oppose a line item veto, but just thought the constitution needed to be amended to achieve it.

Perhaps Jim, the Mssachusetts native, can shed some light on this.

topics:
Taxes, Business, Books, Constitution