The real fix for Social Security
Trump and his Republicans want Social Security to run out of money. They don’t want the rich — their patrons — to pay their fair share.
Friends,
One of the reasons I write this letter to you each day is to arm you with the facts and analyses you need to respond to the garbage coming out of the Trump campaign and Trump’s Republican Party.
Today I want to talk to you about Social Security.
The trustees of Social Security — of which yours truly was once a member — say the program will be able to pay full benefits only until 2033. After that, Social Security will be able to dole out only roughly 77 percent of benefits due.
Trump has pledged to protect Social Security but hasn’t offered a plan for how to do that.
Instead, he is promising to repeal taxes on Social Security benefits.
This will not save Social Security. In fact, quite the opposite. Without the revenue from Social Security taxes, the Social Security trust fund will run out of money even sooner.
This has been the Republican goal for years: Social Security is one of the most popular and successful government programs ever created, not only helping retirees but also keeping 26 million people out of poverty.
Getting rid of Social Security will, in the minds of Republican strategists, open the way to getting rid of much else Americans depend on.
Why is Social Security running out of money? Not because so many boomers are retiring.
The Social Security trustees anticipated the boom in boomer retirements. This is why Social Security was amended back in 1983, to gradually increase the age for collecting full retirement benefits from 65 to 67. That change is helping finance the boomers’ retirement.
The real reason Social Security is running out of money is something the trustees never anticipated: how much total income is going to the top.
A big part of the American working population today is earning less than the Social Security trustees anticipated years ago — reducing revenue flowing into the program.
Had the pay of American workers kept up with the trend decades ago — as well as their growing productivity — their Social Security payments would have kept the program flush.
But a much larger chunk of the nation’s total income is now going to the top compared to decades ago.
Yet income subject to the Social Security payroll tax is capped. No dollar of earnings above the cap is taxed. The cap in 2024 is $168,600.
So, as the rich have become far richer, more and more of the nation’s total income has escaped the Social Security payroll tax.
A CEO earning $20 million a year pays Social Security taxes on roughly 1 percent of their income, while a worker earning under the cap pays Social Security taxes on 100 percent of their income.
They both end up paying the same amount of money into the program. This isn’t fair.
The rise in the amount of income above the cap due to inequality has cost the Social Security Trust Fund reserve an estimated $1.4 trillion since 1983.
The solution is obvious: Scrap the cap and make the rich pay more in Social Security taxes.
One plan introduced by Democrats in Congress would eliminate the cap on earnings over $250,000 and also subject investment income to Social Security taxes.
It’s estimated that this would extend the solvency of Social Security for the next 75 years without raising taxes on 93 percent of American households.
Bottom line: Trump’s plan will destroy Social Security.
The Democrats’ plan will save it — and do so fairly.
If we want to ensure Social Security’s long-term future, and that working people can retire with dignity, we must make the wealthy pay their fair share.
Professor Reich: it appears that the consensus that all the pundits are demanding is that the cap on social security is scrapped -- and this can only happen if the november elections are a democratic sweep. are we voters capable of making such big decisions? sometimes, when i look into the screaming face of marjorie trailer queen, lauren boebert and others in the spit-spewing gang of rabid idiots, i despair for americans, for our collective intellect and for our future.
In my former career as a postsecondary education executive, around mid-year, I would notice a significant bump in the net on my paycheck. In the moment, I would think, “Wow, did I get a surprise bonus or raise?” Then, I would remember that I had maxed out my social security contributions. Although, I enjoyed the higher net paycheck over the rest of the year, it irritated me that most of the faculty and staff paid full Social Security taxes right through their December 31st paycheck. Only in America do we have insane economic policy that favor only 20% of voters. Why don’t the 80% being screwed vote for candidates who would repeal the SS income cap? I just don’t get why so many Americans vote in favor of the wealthy before themselves.