They will NOT be cured by your suggested increase in the payroll tax percentage, either!
I am not suggesting it, but many others are. I attended a week long seminar on SS sponsored by CATO a few years ago. We had everyone from the Concord Coalition, Heritage, OMB, CBO, two senators and four congressmen, a Nobel prize winning economist, David Walker, SS Trustees, etc. and there was some discussion about raising contributions, which is not new historically. When SS was started in 1937, the contribution rate was 1% each for employer and employee. Social Security & Medicare Tax Rates
And, you DO support an increase in payroll taxes, so do not claim that I do and that you don’t.
Can you cite where I said that? I am against this Ponzi scheme. I favor personal accounts and privatization. We can't tax our way out, just postpone the inevitable. And the more we delay solving the long term problem, the more drastic and draconian the solution. I have said this repeatedly on this thread.
A TAX INCREASE ON BENEFITS DOES BOTH!
A tax increase does not solve the problem.
After the crash of the financial markets, “privatization” is a dead letter. IT WON'T HAPPEN IN YOUR LIFETIME!
But, even if we were to go that privatization route, there is no way that we could quit paying benefits to those who are already drawing benefits.
Reduction in those benefits is also a non-starter.
TAXATION of those benefits is, politically, the path of least resistance.
YOU CLEARLY SUPPORTED AN INCREASE IN THE PAYROLL TAX PERCENTAGE, ABOVE!
You said, clearly, that an increase in the rate had not happened recently, had not happened since a certain date, and that such an increase in the payroll tax rate would be better than removing or raising the cap.
Now, I do think a total removal of the cap on earnings subject to the payroll tax would be stupid, economically.
There is great incentive for people to try and earn MORE than the “cap” today, since that gives them a bit of a “booster rocket” increase in take home pay.
The incentive to earn MORE than the cap amount helps more people REACH the cap, which means more revenue to the govt. However, there are not many supply siders or people who understand incentives, in Congress or the White House.