Better late than never I guess. Welcome to the world of reality for most of the rest of us Mitt Romney:
Former Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Friday in a New York Times op-ed that “it’s time for rich people like me to pay more” in taxes ahead of the Social Security benefits cut projected for 2034.
Romney wrote that political ads in 2012, when he ran for president against then-incumbent President Obama, suggested his policy proposals would push “grandma off a cliff.”
“Today, all of us, including our grandmas, truly are headed for a cliff: If, as projected, the Social Security Trust Fund runs out in the 2034 fiscal year, benefits will be cut by about 23 percent,” he warned. “The government will need trillions of dollars to make up the shortfall.”
“And on the tax front,” he later wrote, “it’s time for rich people like me to pay more.”
Here's more on the op-ed from Newsweek:
The former senator, who served from 2019 to 2025, framed his argument as a break with traditional partisan lines, writing, “Typically, Democrats insist on higher taxes, and Republicans insist on lower spending. But given the magnitude of our national debt as well as the proximity of the cliff, both are necessary.”
He then said he had reversed a long-held view on raising the income cap on which Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) payroll taxes are applied, writing in his opinion article, “I long opposed increasing the income level on which FICA employment taxes are applied (this year, the cap is $176,100). No longer; the consequences of the cliff have changed my mind.”
From there, Romney pointed to how capital gains are treated at death, using a hypothetical involving billionaire Elon Musk, and argued the current system allows some of the wealthiest Americans to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars, saying it should be “sealed for mega-estates over $100 million.”
He maintained his pro-capitalist views but argued, “I believe in free enterprise, and I believe all Americans should be able to strive for financial success. But we have reached a point where any mix of solutions to our nation’s economic problems is going to involve the wealthiest Americans contributing more.”
He ended by urging Republicans to adopt the approach, writing, “If my party wants to be the one to give working- and middle-class Americans greater opportunity — to be the party that is trying to restore some sense of confidence in our capitalist system — this would be a start.”
CNN covered his op-ed in the segment above. The rest of the corporate media completely ignored it.
It's nice that Romney finally got on board with what Democrats have been saying forever, but sadly it won't make a dent with the cultists in his party.
He was also arguing for means testing Social Security in his op-ed, which is a bad idea. Lift the cap, but we should not be means testing it. As soon as you turn it into a program for lower income people only, Republicans will do their best to eliminate it altogether.
