CONCORD, New Hampshire - September 5, 2011 - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a voter in New Hampshire Monday that the way to make sure companies like General Electric pay more taxes is to lower their tax rate.

“How are you going to tackle those values issues and the abuse that’s happening in Washington?” a voter attending a pancake breakfast in New Hampshire asked Romney. “For instance, why doesn’t GE pay taxes?”

“You’re going to see me talking about changing the corporate tax structure,” Romney replied. “Our rates are the highest in the world and that means companies are inclined to go elsewhere. I can’t speak for GE in specifics, but my guess is they’ve gone elsewhere over the years to places where taxes are lower and regulations are lower, where they think they are going to get a better deal.”

“We have a strange thing in America. I’m puzzled by it. If a company makes a bunch of money, let’s say, selling goods in China and they keep their money in China and invest in China, they don’t pay U.S. taxes. But if they bring their money home to invest here, we charge them taxes. It’s absolutely backwards.”