Romney: Health Mandate Is a Tax

Days after a spokesman asserted that ObamaCare's individual mandate is not a tax in Mitt Romney's view, the candidate himself is saying the opposite—thus aligning with the rest of his party. Romney tells CBS News that while he agreed with the Supreme Court's dissent, "the dissent lost. ... The majority of the court said it's a tax, and therefore it is a tax. They have spoken. There's no way around that."

Romney said that meant that President Obama had "broken the pledge he made" not to raise taxes on middle-income families. Of course, the shift opens Romney to criticism that he too raised taxes in passing Massachusetts' version of health care reform. (More Mitt Romney stories.)