Mitt Romney Calls For Raising Taxes On Super Rich In NYT Op-Ed
Former Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney called for a higher tax rate on the ultra-wealthy to help preserve Social Security for future generations, saying it’s “time for rich people like me to pay more.”
Romney, a former Republican presidential candidate and governor of Massachusetts, wrote in an article: Opinion published by The New York Times He said Friday that wealthy Americans should contribute more to help save the Social Security Trust Fund.
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The fund is projected to run out of money by 2034; This suggests that the cliff that will sharply reduce people’s retirement benefits is fast approaching unless Congress acts.
“I believe in free enterprise and I believe all Americans should be able to strive for financial success. But we have reached the point where any mix of solutions to our nation’s economic problems will require the wealthiest Americans to contribute more,” Romney wrote in his op-ed.
Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican from Utah, at a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, in Washington, DC. U.S. President Joe Biden’s $7.3 trillion fiscal 2025 budget proposal, unveiled Monday, lays out a second-term vision that would deliver more services, middle-class tax cuts and price controls to voters financed by higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations. Bloomberg via Getty Images
Romney also said he supports closing tax loopholes exploited by the wealthy, calling them “tax caves.” This includes ideas that many Democrats have proposed over the years, such as increasing the tax rate on carried interest and taxing large inheritances over $100 million that avoid capital gains tax on transfers following the death of the asset owner.
The former Utah senator used Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a leading example of a wealthy American taking advantage of these loopholes, noting that Musk’s now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency “failed spectacularly” to reduce government spending earlier this year.
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“Yes, taxes could slow growth,” Romney wrote. “But most of the measures I propose would have a relatively small impact on economic growth. If my party wants to be a party that gives working and middle-class Americans more opportunities, that tries to restore a sense of confidence in our capitalist system, this could be a start.”
Romney was one of the richest members of Congress before leaving the Senate after one term in 2024. He has long supported lowering taxes and reforming entitlements for Social Security that would ensure long-term solvency.
But the ballooning national debt of more than $38 trillion, thanks in part to tax cuts for the wealthy in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill and growing voter concerns about income inequality, appears to have changed Romney’s mind about raising taxes.
“This will help us avoid the cliff ahead and quiet some of the anger that will surely grow as unemployed college graduates see tax-advantaged multimillionaires sailing on 1,000-foot yachts,” Romney concluded.
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Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, who is running for governor as a Democrat in California, agreed with Romney.
“Tax me more. I’ve been saying this for a long time,” Steyer wrote online. “Even rational Republicans agree because they look at the numbers.”
Read the full column from Romney Here.
