Former Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney called for taxing the ultra-rich at a higher rate to help save Social Security for future generations, saying “it’s time for rich people like me to pay more.”

Romney, former Republican presidential candidate and governor of Massachusetts, wrote in a opinion article published by The New York Times Friday that wealthy Americans should contribute more to help save the Social Security Trust Fund.

The fund is projected to run out of money by 2034, a rapidly approaching chasm that would dramatically reduce people’s retirement benefits if no action is taken by Congress.

“I believe in free enterprise, and I believe that all Americans should be able to strive for financial success. But we have reached a point where any combination of solutions to our nation’s economic problems will involve the wealthiest Americans contributing more,” Romney wrote in the op-ed.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, during a Senate Budget Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Tuesday, March 12, 2024. U.S. President Joe Biden's $7.3 trillion fiscal 2025 budget proposal, unveiled Monday, lays out a vision for a second term that would offer more services, tax breaks for the middle class and price controls for voters funded by higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, during a Senate Budget Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Tuesday, March 12, 2024. U.S. President Joe Biden’s $7.3 trillion fiscal 2025 budget proposal, unveiled Monday, lays out a vision for a second term that would offer more services, tax breaks for the middle class and price controls for voters funded by higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

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Romney also said he supports closing tax loopholes exploited by the wealthy, referring to them as “tax caverns.” This includes ideas that many Democrats have proposed over the years, such as increasing the tax rate on carried interest and taxing large estates of more than $100 million that avoid capital gains tax after they pass down upon the death of the asset owner.

The former Utah senator used Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a prime example of a wealthy American taking advantage of these loopholes, noting that Musk’s now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency “failed spectacularly” to cut government spending earlier this year.

“Yes, taxes can slow growth,” Romney wrote. “But most of the measures I propose would have a relatively small impact on economic growth. If my party wants to be the one that gives greater opportunities to working and middle class Americans, to be the party that is trying to restore some sense of confidence in our capitalist system, this would be a start.”

Romney was one of the richest members of Congress before leaving the Senate after one term in 2024. He has long supported cutting taxes and entitlement reform to provide long-term solvency for Social Security.

But the soaring national debt of more than $38 trillion, which has skyrocketed thanks in part to tax cuts for the wealthy in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, along with growing voter concern about income inequality, appears to have changed Romney’s mind on the issue of raising taxes.

“It would help us avoid the cliff ahead and may tend to calm some of the anger that is sure to grow as unemployed college graduates see tax-advantaged billionaires sailing around on 300-foot yachts,” Romney concluded.

Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmentalist who is running for governor of California as a Democrat, agreed with Romney.

“Tax me more. I’ve been saying it for a long time,” Steyer wrote online. “Even rational Republicans agree, because they’re looking at the numbers.”

Read Romney’s full op-ed here.