He’s been portrayed as one of the more moderate candidates in the Republican presidential primary, but Ohio Gov. John Kasich took a conservative stance Sunday on taxes, saying that he would not raise taxes as part of a deal to also reduce spending.
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On CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Kasich was asked a question that was posed to all the Republican candidates in a primary debate in the 2012 election: Would you accept a deal that would raise $1 in taxes for every $10 in spending cuts?
Kasich gave the same response Sunday that all the candidates did then, and which was later used by Democrats to portray Republicans as inflexible: No.
“No, no, if the government takes more, they will spend it,” Kasich said.
Instead, Kasich said the way to balance a budget is through “economic growth and reforming and innovating government.”
That was the lesson he learned as a U.S. representative in the 1990s, he said, when as Budget Committee chairman he helped guide balanced budget legislation through Congress.
Congress succeeded in balancing the budget then, he said, but later “it was all blown.”
Kasich touted his fiscal record in Ohio, where, he claimed, he has implemented “the largest amount of tax cuts of any sitting governor in this country” while being required to balance the budget.
Kasich, a relatively late entrant to the GOP field, has seen his polling among Republicans rise, especially in the early primary state of New Hampshire.
