WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney are clashing in a reinvigorated election-year debate over tax fairness, with both sides claiming their position is best for a struggling middle class.

Romney challenged Obama’s call for a one-year extension of tax cuts limited to households earning less than $250,000, saying the U.S. needed to restore economic freedom for everyone.

“To restore economic freedom we have to have taxes that are competitive with other nations,” Romney told radio host Michael Medved on Monday.