Romney Says Billionaires Will Just Buy Paintings if Taxes Raised – Second Nexus

Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah has proven to be one of the few Republican elected officials willing to denounce former President Donald Trump and the far-right faction of the party currently inhabiting Congress. Romney twice voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trials and has since become persona non grata among the party's base.

That doesn't mean Romney has dispensed with age-old Republican principles, such as protecting the nation's richest from any increase in taxes, even at the expense of expanded protections for the middle class.

In a recent Fox News interview, Romney rejected the idea of increasing taxes for billionaires, who pay taxes at lower rates than most Americans, if they pay them at all.

Watch below.

Senator Romney expresses concern that taxing billionaires could cause them to invest in paintings or ranches rather https://t.co/ENFb23nG25

Romney specifically spoke out against proposed capital gains tax expansions, which would tax the super wealthy on investments as the investments accrue value, instead of just when these investments are sold.

Romney told Fox's Bret Baier:

Romney's analysis that the super rich will abandon the stock market over a capital gains tax increase seems far-fetched. The top 10% of wealthy Americans already own nearly 90% of stocks. The top 1% hold more than half of corporate equities and mutual-fund shares.

However, comments defending America's wealthiest aren't new coming from Romney. As the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, Romney dealt his campaign a death blow in the final weeks after video surfaced of him railing against the "47 percent" of Americans who didn't pay income taxes.

Romney said of these people, most of whom are explicitly excluded from the tax code due to poverty:

It's long been established that Romney, who himself is worth around a quarter billion, would rather increase taxes for working class Americans than on the wealthiest.

He took some heat for his Fox News comments online.

Billionaires' wealth surged during the pandemic as everyone else suffered an enormous recession, and as soon as you https://t.co/LloYFZgMFQ

Bill Gates owns 300,000 acres of farmland. https://t.co/MZTd6BKKYQ

Its truly incredible how little self-reflection Mitt has done since tanking his presidential campaign with this ex https://t.co/nHa0Qy5NIq

Shed a tear for the downtrodden billionaire. Can we get Sally Struthers to do some fundraising commercials for them https://t.co/ZE4Dih5qTt

Love when rich dudes like Romney start gesturing at Atlas Shrugged and peddling this nonsense whenever taxing the w https://t.co/Ep9QrCS0HG

If they invested in things that build jobs, they probably wouldnt be billionaires now, would they? https://t.co/fv0BBCXl5M

Others found Romney's comments downright insulting in how outdated they were.

Hey Mitt. 1988 called and even they think this is a tired acid-washed-jeans argument suited for that bygone era of https://t.co/tnRQaxEHDX

The talking points are stale 30 years later. https://t.co/rASWyQd8rD

When a lord tells the peasants trickle down still has a shot. Just hang in there. https://t.co/mS9m2iOEDx

Increasing taxes on the wealthy are a key component in financing President Joe Biden's ambitious infrastructure agenda, which could create millions of jobs if passed in its full formrebutting Romney's claim that the United States can't create jobs by taxing billionaires.

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Romney Says Billionaires Will Just Buy Paintings if Taxes Raised - Second Nexus