Posted on 02/24/2017 10:47:48 AM PST by SeekAndFind
WASHINGTON – Congressional Democrats introduced a bill that would increase the investment gains tax by 6.2 percent for households with adjusted gross income of $250,000 and above to pay for an expansion of Social Security.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), sponsor of the Social Security Expansion Act in the Senate, said the proposed “net investment income tax” increase from 3.8 percent to 10 percent would make “millionaires and billionaires” pay more in taxes to expand Social Security and extend the life of the program. The investment gains tax originally became law as part of Obamacare.
“Everybody in this room knows that Social Security hasn’t added a nickel to the debt. It’s tax breaks for billionaires and the war in Iraq and an inflated military budget that in fact led to the high deficits and the national debt,” Sanders said during a press conference on Capitol Hill last week with the organization Social Security Works.
“Starting at $250,000 and going up, the top one and a half percent will be paying more in taxes, and at a time of massive income inequality that is appropriate. And what will we do with that additional revenue? We are going to extend the life of Social Security for 61 years. How’s that? And we’re going to expand benefits, not cut them,” he added.
Sanders said seniors earning less than $16,000 per year would see their Social Security benefits go up by about $1,300 each year with the bill in effect.
“We can expand benefits. We can extend the life of Social Security if we have the guts to tell the millionaires and the billionaires yes they are going to have to pay a bit more in taxes,” he said.
In addition to Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and other members were on hand to announce the legislation.
Warren criticized President Trump for nominating Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) as director of the Office of Management of Budget.
“Donald Trump has already turned his back on his promise to protect Social Security. He has turned his back on millions of seniors. What’s he doing? He has put Congressman Mulvaney in charge of the Office of Management and Budget. This is a man who says we just need to raise the retirement age to 70 – talk about a man who has never done any heavy lifting for work, right?” Warren said at the news conference. “He says it’s perfectly reasonable to cut Social Security.”
If passed and signed into law by Trump, the legislation would apply the payroll tax to income above $250,000 and raise the Social Security tax on investment income from 3.8 percent to 10 percent.
According to the text of the bill, 62 percent of the investment income tax revenue would be distributed to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and 9 percent would be applied to the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund.
The new revenue collected would help pay for increasing the “primary insurance amount” for qualified beneficiaries starting in 2021 and “revise computation of cost-of-living adjustments to use the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers.”
Sanders said Trump should support their bill since he pledged not to cut Social Security during the presidential campaign.
“I think Trump was as clear as he could be and if he goes back on these words, he is lying to the American people,” Sanders said after reading past quotes from Trump about protecting Social Security.
Aaaaawh HELL NO !
Folks, the democrats are coming after your 401k and IRA retirement funds.
Lets tax the failed socialist politicians right out of their homes they realized on the backs of hard working US citizens.
We will not get much but I bet the rest will be silent
Capital gains tax and taxes on interest and dividends should be abolished.
Any money they raise by increased taxes will never get to seniors; they’ll spend it on snail darter research and why chickens cross the road. Pretending to care about seniors is the cruelest hoax the Democrats could possibly play.
If passed and signed into law by Trump
Yeah, like that’s going to happen
As an amendment to the bill, half of earnings greater than 6.2% will not be taxed and will be invested in any of say 10 index funds to the personal account of the taxpayer.
How is not signing an expansion of Social Security a cut?
They themselves and their despicable cohort criminals sole from the SSI cookie jar and never replaced any of it, they also continue to give it out to those who did not pay into it. F them all
How about taking the mass of deadbeats that were put on SS disability instead of welfare in the last decade?
How about taking people who are getting disability that get around much better than I do off of it and making them go to WORK at something! I’ve met more than one of these people. Met one one day on full disability driving a FUSO offroad RV he had to climb up into and he was also carrying his dirt bike. Headed for Burning Man and taking time off from his business. Another guy down the road spends his days riding his Harley and working around his house. Again, gets around better than I do. These sure look like fraud to me.
Typical liberal math. Increasing the tax rate from 3.8 to 10% is not a 6.2% tax hike. It’s a 263% tax hike.
ALL LIBS are lunatics.
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