In what feels like a pre-scripted moment ripped from the “Establishment Politician Playbook,” Mitt Romney — former Massachusetts governor, 2012 presidential nominee, and perpetual disappointment to conservatives — has taken another lurch toward political irrelevance by declaring: “It’s time for rich people like me to pay more.”
Well, pop the confetti. Romney has officially completed his evolution into a tax-happy centrist with all the charm of a soggy bipartisan handshake. His recent op-ed, covered by The New York Times, is a swirl of economic buzzwords, gloomy debt warnings, and a soft sell on higher taxes, all delivered with that signature Romney blandness that somehow manages to both bore and infuriate.
Let’s be clear: there’s nothing courageous about a man worth hundreds of millions, who made his fortune at Bain Capital, now advocating for higher taxes on the wealthy after he’s already made it. That’s not economic wisdom — that’s elite self-indulgence disguised as virtue.
Romney’s pitch is simple: in order to tackle the national debt, we need both entitlement reform and higher taxes on the rich. While no serious conservative would argue that our debt crisis can be solved by budget cuts alone, Romney glosses over a vital point — raising taxes makes it harder for people to become rich in the first place.
His proposed solution? Start means-testing Social Security and Medicare — a reasonable, if politically radioactive, reform — but tie it to lifting the income cap on payroll taxes. The problem is, history tells us how that story ends. Remember when Democrats raised the cap on Medicare payroll taxes in the ‘90s? They didn’t use it to “fix” anything.
They just pocketed the revenue and ramped up spending. There’s been zero appetite from the left to reform entitlements since then — unless you count their constant scare campaigns about “throwing grandma off a cliff.”
And speaking of scare tactics, let’s not forget that Democrats weaponized Romney’s own 2012 entitlement reform proposals, mocking him as the villain who would privatize Medicare and leave seniors destitute. Now he wants to cut a deal with those same people?
The Wall Street Journal editorial board nails it: if Mitt wants to pay more, nobody’s stopping him. Cut the check. But don’t pretend raising taxes on capital gains and earned income — which disproportionately affects those still trying to build wealth — is some noble crusade for justice.
It’s not. It’s a legacy play, a political head fake, and a love letter to the Georgetown cocktail circuit.
