“Mitt Romney is one of the only nationally-recognized Republicans willing to stand up to President Donald Trump, something that causes heart palpitations in Utah’s most zealous conservatives, but which gives the rest of us great comfort.

Given the president’s tenuous relationship with the truth and ethical standards, it is critical that (former) Gov. Romney, if elected, maintain the highest level of accuracy in his dialogue with Utahns about the critical issues facing the country. To that end, we ask Romney to answer three simple questions prior to the November election:

1. Candidate Trump promised repeatedly on the campaign trail to close the carried interest loophole (“Those hedge fund guys are getting away with murder”), an egregious mischaracterization of income that allows fund managers to pay half the tax rate of working people by claiming capital gains rates on ordinary income.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 did not close this loophole, but rather made it worse. In fact, since the law’s passage, fund managers have set up a slew of new shell corporations to avoid paying their fair share of taxes on carried interest.

Note: As a private equity manager, Romney took advantage of the carried interest loophole.

Gov. Romney, will you tell the voters of Utah the truth — that President Trump failed to live up to his promise to close the carried interest loophole — and will you commit to closing this egregious loophole if elected to the US Senate?

2. Throughout his presidential campaign, candidate Trump promised to “save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security without cuts,” but his recently released budget cuts all three programs by almost $1.5 trillion, roughly the same amount as the recent tax cuts which primarily benefited millionaires, billionaires and corporations.

Gov. Romney, will you tell the voters of Utah the truth — that President Trump is going back on his promise to ‘save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security without cuts?’ Do you believe it is morally right to cut these programs that benefit the poor, the elderly, and the disabled, in order to pay for tax cuts to America’s wealthiest citizens?

3. On the campaign trail, Trump said that he would support a federal minimum wage of $10 an hour. The stock market is booming and the economy has been steadily growing for nearly a decade, but the federal minimum wage remains at just $7.25 an hour, the equivalent of $15,000 per year.

Governor Romney, do you think $7.25 an hour is a moral wage, and if not, will you commit to raising the federal minimum wage? If so, to what, and by when?

More from Art Lipson, Patriotic Millionaire, Utahn, and Managing Partner at Western Investment, LLC:

“Despite the many differences we have on policy issues, I believe Gov. Romney has shown himself to be a moral and truthful person. If elected, I hope he will bring those qualities to the US Senate where they are so badly needed. And I urge Governor Romney to run his campaign with integrity as well, including having the courage to tell the truth about President Trump’s failure to deliver on key promises he made during the election. Utahns, indeed all Americans, need the truth right now more than they need just about anything.”

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