He demolished then-President Barack Obama in their first 2012 debate, and Monday night on Fox News, Romney took Democrats’ current economic plans to task.
“Well, first of all, it’s not a good idea to tell billionaires, don’t come to America, don’t start your business here, to tell the Steve Jobs and the Bill Gates and people like that, this isn’t the place to begin your business, go somewhere else. That’s a bad idea,” the Utah Republican explained to Bret Baier. “But, number two, you’re going to tax people, not when they sell something, but just when they own it and the value goes up. And what that means is that people are, these multi-billionaires, are going to look and say, I don’t want to invest in the stock market, because, as that goes up, I’m going to get taxed.”
Democrats want to tax capital gain assets as they appreciate, before investors realize any gains. And while the left says their “wealth tax” only applies to billionaires, Romney noted those taxes can trickle down to other taxpayers.
“The idea of taxing people as the value of something goes up, not when they sell it, but just when the value goes up, that’s a pretty dramatic change. And the unintended consequences from that kind of change, I don’t know if the Democrats have thought through,” the first-term senator explained. “And whether it applies to 700 billionaires or 700,000 Americans ultimately, the idea of taxing people based on the value of something going up suggests values will keep going up. What happens when they go down? Are they going to get a refund check? Are they going to get paid interest for not having had the benefit of their money during the time when they were taxed when it went up before there?”
Democrats’ plan to destroy private investment in order to finance a yet-to-be-written social spending bill is dangerous. Their proposal promotes even more short-term thinking by punishing anyone who makes long-term investments in our economy. That isn’t how we compete with China. pic.twitter.com/YNNrHH18fk
— Senator Mitt Romney (@SenatorRomney) October 26, 2021
Romney called the new tax scheme “a big mistake,” and feels the same is true for Democrats’ overall economic plans.
“When you change dramatically an aspect of how we tax people, you can expect a lot of unintended consequences. And this new tax idea is not a great idea, in my opinion,” he claimed. “Look, they’re adding to inflation. And instead of dealing with something like the emergence of China as a global competitor, we’re going to be giving out two years of free pre-K. This is not the answer to the problems America faces right now. So it’s raising taxes at a time we shouldn’t. And it’s also encouraging more inflation. And it’s not addressing the real problems that our country faces and that the American people are concerned about.”
Romney believes Democrats are desperate to pass something on infrastructure. He noted that “the real problem is, the legislation is unpopular with the American people, and it doesn’t address the concerns people have.”
Watch the full interview here.
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