Republican Mitt Romney endorses New Jersey Democrat Lisa McCormick’s stark warning

For years, Lisa McCormick has been advocating higher taxes on the rich to prevent a massive reduction in Social Security benefits. Now, former Republican presidential nominee, US senator and Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is saying the same thing.

In a rare convergence across a deep political divide, former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney issued a dire warning about the nation’s fiscal trajectory that echoed progressive New Jersey Democrat Lisa McCormick, with both calling for increased tax contributions from the wealthiest Americans.

McCormick, a longtime critic of federal tax and debt policies, has pointed to a combined figure of $163 trillion in national debt and unfunded liabilities. 

By simply requiring upper-income Americans to pay the same tax rate as middle-class families, McCormick says Social Security's benefits could be expanded, and its funding would remain in balance for decades beyond the longest projections.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and Utah senator, echoed the severity of the crisis in a recent New York Times op-ed, describing a looming “cliff” related to Social Security insolvency.

“If, as projected, the Social Security Trust Fund runs out in the 2034 fiscal year, benefits will be cut by about 23 percent,” Romney wrote, warning of potential economic calamity. His proposed solution includes a break from traditional GOP orthodoxy. “It’s time for rich people like me to pay more,” he stated.

Specifically, Romney reversed his prior opposition to raising the income cap subject to Social Security payroll taxes, which is $176,100 in 2025. He also advocated for closing what he termed “caverns” in the tax code, such as the “step-up in basis” rule that allows unrealized capital gains to go untaxed at death for large estates. He proposed applying reforms to estates valued over $100 million.

Romney’s stance is validation for McCormick's longstanding “Scrap the Cap” proposal, which would apply Social Security taxes to all earned income. 

Social Security currently provides benefits to more than 66 million recipients. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that about 78 million people, or about 20% of the U.S. population, will receive benefits from the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund in 2032.

The CBO and the trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trusts have both raised alarms about how soon Social Security will become “insolvent.” 

McCormick said insolvency refers to the fourth quarter of 2032, at which time the trust fund will be depleted, and payments would come solely from income generated by payroll tax and income tax on benefits.

“The math is brutal and nonpartisan,” McCormick said. “Benefits will be reduced by as much as 24 percent across the board, unless Congress fixes the system.”

While 94% of American workers pay Social Security tax on every dollar in their paycheck, the very richest Americans stop paying Social Security taxes on taxable earnings over $176,100, but it does not have to be that way.

By simply requiring upper-income Americans to pay the same tax rate as middle-class families, Social Security's benefits could be expanded, and its funding would remain in balance for decades beyond the longest projections.

She illustrated her point by noting that a high-wage earner like basketball star LeBron James hits the annual payroll tax cap early in the year, after which he pays no further Social Security tax on millions in additional salary.

Lisa McCormick said LeBron James is done paying into Social Security during the first quarter of his first game but for the rest of that contest, his next 81 times on the court, as well as the baseball, football & hockey seasons, he doesn’t contribute another dime to the retirement system despite a looming crisis that could force a 25 percent reduction in monthly benefits.

Romney argued the tax provisions he targets were intended for purposes like protecting family farms but are now used by billionaires to avoid taxes. “The unusual provision makes sense when you’re talking about helping families keep their family farms,” Romney wrote. “But it’s used by billionaires to avoid capital gains taxes.”

McCormick responded that Romney’s acknowledgment exposes a fundamental inequity. “Now one of the architects of the modern GOP confirms the vaults are locked, the yachts are sailing, and the bill is coming due for everyone else,” she said.

"The Social Security actuary said the 2025 budget law President Donald Trump signed in July will accelerate the retirement program’s insolvency to late 2032,” McCormick said.

Romney framed his proposals as necessary to ensure economic stability and restore public confidence. He dismissed the long-held political promise that tax cuts alone will generate sufficient growth to overcome the debt, saying that rationale has “long rationalized politicians’ failure to act.”

The alignment between the progressive New Jersey Democrat and the Republican figurehead presents a stark, bipartisan critique of current fiscal policy as a deadline for the Social Security Trust Fund approaches.