Washington, July 5 : Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has said that the Affordable Care Act''s individual mandate is ''a tax'', contradicting his senior adviser, Eric Fehrnstrom.

According to Politico, earlier this week, Fehrnstrom had said that Romney has the same view as the White House on the individual mandate: "That it''s a penalty, rather than a tax".

Romney had instituted a state-level mandate to buy health insurance as the governor of Massachusetts.

But Romney shifted his stance declaring that President Barack Obama broke his pledge not to raise taxes by imposing the individual mandate.

"While I agreed with the dissent, that''s overtaken by the fact that 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.

"The American people know that President Obama has broken the pledge he made - said he wouldn''t raise taxes on middle-income Americans," he added.

Republicans have urged Romney to campaign comprehensively against the law known as Obamacare, even if that means talking around his record as governor. (ANI)