Posted on 08/09/2024 5:43:09 PM PDT by Libloather
Donald Trump has claimed he will stop taxing the Social Security benefits of seniors if he wins a second term in the White House.
The cut is the latest in a series of tax relief policies which Democrats claim with endanger federal benefits and see the U.S' debt balloon. Others say Congress would be unlikely to pass the plans.
But this latest proposal made on Fox and Friends is the most significant and expensive yet, costing the government $1.8 trillion over the next decade, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
They claim the cuts would see Federal benefits dry up sooner than expected.
'People on Social Security are being killed,' Trump said.
'One of the things I'm doing is no tax for seniors on Social Security, and I'll get it done quickly.
'No tax for seniors on Social Security.'
About 40 percent of people receiving Social Security have to pay federal income taxes on their benefits, according to the Social Security Administration.
Taxes on Social Security apply to individuals with household incomes above $25,000 and married couples with an income above $32,000. They pay 50 percent tax on that income.
Singles with incomes of more than $34,000 - $44,000 for couples - are also taxed on an additional 35 percent of their incomes.
All that revenue goes towards paying for Medicare.
The taxes help fund the Social Security and the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust funds.
Experts fear eliminating taxes on Social Security could run up the deficit and move up insolvency for the funds used to pay out those benefits.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Yep. One of the Dems, when discussing Reagan’s tax cuts, said the proposed tax cuts would “blow a hole in the deficit”. That quote was bandied about for some time. Of course, it did no such thing.
Taxes on Social Security apply to individuals with household incomes above $25,000 and married couples with an income above $32,000. They pay 50 percent tax on that income.
I believe it shouldn’t say you’d pay a 50% tax rate on your SS income. It should say that 50% of your SS counts as taxable income at whatever rate your combined income tax bracket is.
Singles with incomes of more than $34,000 - $44,000 for couples - are also taxed on an additional 35 percent of their incomes.
True. Or read it as 85% of your SS income is taxed (35% in addition to the aforementioned 50%).
Easy way to pay for this
Get us out of the United Nations
Depends on your definition of “hole”:
Year Deficit (Billions)
1981 $79
1982 $128
1983 $208
1984 $185
1985 $212
1986 $221
1987 $150
1988 $155
1989 $153
Reagan did get it back down to a $153 Billion deficit by the end of his 2nd term despite push back from Dems at every step.
Nothing compared to the $1 Trillion+ deficits since 2020.
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/us-deficit-by-year-3306306
76% of all income taxes now going to pay interest on the national debt:
Ordinarily it would be enough imho to chart a policy aimed at reducing the deficit.
the problem is that every time the liberals control the federal government, they spend like a drunken sailor on shore leave (gotta love that analogy). in the 1960s, iirc, the reasoning given was that the USA was “rich enough” to afford whatever liberal program was being proposed. nowadays, if liberals happen to be in power, they justify more spending by citing the “modern monetary theory,” which i do not understand but apparently says that increasing government spending is always somehow ok.
intermittently, so far as i can tell, a claim is made that if we increase our national productivity, we generate more goods, thus becoming potentially richer. national productivity is increased classically by increased automation (basically a continuation of improved efficiency of the industrial revolution). nowadays so far as i can tell people are citing AI as an incipient means of improved efficiency (on top of increased automation) (iow, robots replacing human workers). some such as elon musk even predict that humans will be freed from ordinary everyday jobs and thus there will be a need for universal basic income to replace ordinary wages for most people.
iirc conservatives have traditionally sought to reduce spending by making appeals to voters’ common sense: if you spend more than you earn then eventually you will go bankrupt and lose everything you own. historically, this argument seems to have failed to sway most voters, who keep voting for more spending.
i think trump is in part acknowledging the failure of the classical “more spending leads to bankruptcy” argument, and in part acknowledging the “AI leading to UBI” argument. in addition to, or beyond this, he can also argue for more domestic drilling for cheaper energy to reduce prices.
insofar as SS taxes go, i (for one) did not know SS would become taxable (until after Clinton, of course). it does however sound to me as if it is a breach of contract given that SS was originally collected under the premise that it would not be taxed. this should imho be a win for seniors although i suspect most seniors already support trump. if millenials can hold the line on taxes, it will eventually be a win for them as well. what is not clear to me is if they will even notice.
(maybe someone out there can highlight the difference between Keynsian economics and MMT)
Bullspit!
Asshat!
US would save lots of money by getting rid of all the deadwood on it’s payroll
wait till the Tesla robots go on sale next year
Tell me again, how much did we give away to Ukraine? I would take this and hammer the communist pair over the head with it. JD Vance: “so Harris is saying the welfare of Ukraine seniors is more important than the welfare of American seniors?”
I am severely offended by your analogy of a drunken sailor. As a former drunken sailor I can assure you that I eventually ran out of money and sources to obtain money. We had limits to our drunken spending. RATS on the other hand simply print more money and keep spending. True drunken Sailors are disciplined compared to Congress😂
If I had a choice, I would trade non-taxable SS benefits for the elimination of all federal pensions for civilian employees. Let them live on SS.
Republicans have proposed eliminating the tax on benefits, but Herr Walz and his legislative toadies said “no go”, even with a $19 billion budget surplus (which, of course, they’ve already spent on other more important things, like tampons for fourth grade boys.)
“The only time the Democrat-MSM is ever concerned about the cost of anything is when tax cuts are discussed.”
**************
They love to define spending as ‘investment’ and any cuts as “give aways to the rich”.
“Unleash freedom on We the People so we can get this economy humming again.”
************
Its hard to unleash freedom when most of the politicians in both parties love spending and bloated bureaucracies. The reality is they want big portions of our incomes for themselves rather than giving us the freedom of controlling our own money.
BTW the way, each taxpayer’s share of the U.S. national debt IS $268,000. That number will only keep rising because We the Sheeple allow it to. We keep voting for the same people who take money from us.
************
That is false. For those recipients up to 50% of Social Security income is taxable based on your tax rate. There's a big difference.
Not saying SS should be taxed, just correcting a misleading portion of the article.
Right now, I assume it’s going to cost tax payers on SS 1.8 Trillion over the next 10 years. I get it. The government complaining about the loss of funds that are obtained through threats of violence.
IT will not be EXPENSIVE when ILLEGALS ARE NO LONGER GETTING MEDICARE & MEDICAID
Promises are easy to make...and break(I tried but the congress...), the President does not have the power to make or dissolve a law. Only congress has that authority and power and I seriously doubt any congress, whether democrat or republican majority will ever cancel the tax on social security.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.