He said: “Normally, Democrats insist on raising taxes, and Republicans insist on cutting spending. But given the size of our national debt as well as our proximity to the abyss, both are necessary.” “On the spending-cutting front… Social Security and Medicare benefits should be for future retirees Means tested– Need-based, meaning – The age at which benefit payments begin must be linked to average life expectancy in the United States.
“On the tax front, it’s time for rich people like me to pay more,” Romney wrote. estimated His net worth last year, when announced in January 2025 Retirement From the Senate, $235 million. “I have long opposed increasing the level of income that depends on it FICA Employment taxes apply (this year, the maximum is $176,100). no longer; “The consequences of the abyss have changed my mind.”
“Perhaps the largest source of additional tax revenues is also the most urgent for achieving social justice and stability. Some call this closing the loopholes of the tax code, but the term ‘loopholes’ greatly understates their size. The term ‘caves’ or ‘caves’ may be more appropriate,” he continued, calling for a rewrite of the rules for the tax treatment of capital gains for “large estates worth more than $100 million.”
“Closing real estate caves would also lead to increased revenues,” Romney noted. “There are more loopholes and caverns to be explored and closed for the wealthy, including state and local tax deductions, the tax rate on I charged interest“And the limits of charity on the largest properties upon death.”
Some welcomed or even praised Romney’s article. Iowa Rep. J.D. Scholten (D-1), a progressive who has previously run for both chambers of Congress, He announced on social media: “Tax the rich! Welcome to the coalition, Mitt!”
US House Budget Committee Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pennsylvania). Part of new Democratic Alliance, He said: “I welcome Mitt Romney’s opinion piece and encourage people to read it. As the next Chairman of the House Budget Committee, increasing revenues by closing loopholes exploited by the wealthiest Americans will be a top priority.”
Progressive Saikat Chakrabarty, who is he? It is said With a net worth of at least $167 million, he is one of the candidates vying to replace retiring former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). He responded: “Even Mitt Romney now agrees that we need to tax the rich. And I’m calling for a wealth tax on our billionaires and millionaires.”
Michael Linden, senior policy fellow at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, He said“Kudos to Mitt Romney for changing his mind and calling for higher taxes on the rich. I won’t criticize his op-ed (although there are some things I don’t agree with), because the gist of it is right: We need real tax reform to make the rich pay more.”
Others pointed to Romney’s record, including his impressive 47% statements. the leverDavid Sirota question“Why do powerful people usually wait until they no longer have the power to take the right stance and actually admit they were wrong when they have more power to do something about it?”
according to Poor thing:
The clear news in the op-ed is that we have reached a point where even Gordon Gekko, a private equity mogul turned Republican politician, now admits that the tax system has been rigged for the benefit of his fellow oligarchs.
And that’s good. I believe in the policy of addition. I believe in welcoming converts to charitable causes in the spirit of “better late than never.” I believe there should be space for people to change their views for the better. I appreciate Romney at least providing some tentative clarification about what allegedly changed his thinking (side note: I say “allegedly” because it’s not as if Romney just learned the tax system was rigged — he was literally one of the founders of Bain Capital!).
“Yet these kinds of reversals (without explicit apologies, of course) often come off as long overdue but also vaguely inauthentic, or at least not as courageous and principled as they seem,” Sirota continued, stressing that “when Romney had real power, he fortified the rigged tax system that he now criticizes only from the sidelines.”
Source link
