During a recent appearance on “The New Yorker Radio Hour” with editor David Remnick, Democratic Socialists of America national co-chair Megan Romer completely blanked out when asked to explain her plan to “tax the hell out millionaires.”
During a discussion on the organization’s views on taxes and wealth redistribution, Remnick asked whether the organization believed millionaires should exist at all. “I’m less concerned about millionaires, more concerned about billionaires. I don’t have like a hard line where you’re good, or you’re bad,” Romer replied.
Remnick followed up by asking how much wealth is too much, to which Romer replied with. “Yeah, I think the question is less about how much is too much and more about what are you doing to keep and maintain and get that wealth in the first place? I think most billionaires got their wealth because they exploited the working class in some very significant way usually. Are we exploiting people is the bigger question, as opposed to some sort of arbitrary red line of ‘You can have this much money or not have that much money,’” the DSA co-chair responded.
But we do believe in taxing the hell out of millionaires, yeah, absolutely.”
At that point, Remnick asked for clarification or whether Romer could explain how taxing “the hell out of millionaires” could be achieved. “Well, what does ‘Taxing the hell out of them’ mean?” he asked.
Romer then drew a blank and struggled to explain any details on her statement. “Yeah, you know, again, I don’t have like a solid… But I think,” Romer stuttered before Remnick interjected. “But shouldn’t you? I mean, if you’re the co-chair,” he added, at which point Romer said he asked a good question.
“If you’re the co-chair of the DSA, shouldn’t you be more specific than just taxing the hell out of something? What exactly do you mean?”
Romer responded, “So again, it’s democracy, right? And we have to look at what we need to spend and what we need. We don’t wanna depend on the existence of millionaires because that means people are still getting exploited. So, yeah, we need to look at what we need to pay for in the interim, what sort of tax base we need for that to happen, and build from there.”
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DSA Co-Chair Megan Romer says “We believe in taxing the hell out of millionaires.”
She then struggles to explain what that actually means:
Remnick: “What does ‘taxing the hell out of them’ mean?”
Romer: “Yeah. You know, again, I don’t have, like, a solid…”
Remnick: “But… pic.twitter.com/JMKW1egLM9
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) August 7, 2026
Romer’s remarks occurred against the backdrop of a massive DSA resurgence in Democratic Party primary campaigns. Throughout the 2026 cycle, several such candidates have prevailed over establishment-backed opponents in House and Senate races. In New York’s June primaries, DSA member Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated incumbent Representative Adriano Espaillat, and DSA-aligned Claire Valdez defeated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in an open seat contest.
In Colorado, Melat Kiros, backed by the DSA, defeated longtime incumbent Representative Diana DeGette, while DSA-backed state Representative Donavan McKinney defeated incumbent Representative Shri Thanedar. DSA-backed Abdul El-Sayed also managed to defeat U.S. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Senate primary election.
