subject: Republicans Take Aim at Social Security Solvency [print this page] Republicans Take Aim at Social Security Solvency
Social Security solvency is a favorite theme of Republican fear mongers. Their strategy is the usual. Let's scare middle class Americans into voting in a way that only benefits the rich. The truth is bankruptcy has not and will not happen no matter how much Republican politicians want to blame the Baby Boom. We only need to be sensible and pay attention to the real numbers.Conservative media pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, and Republican politicians, like to use fear tactics to win their points. They consistently manipulate the statistics to persuade middle and lower class Americans that we should accept a cut in our Social Security benefits. We must resist!The rich have been getting a free ride on Social Security taxes for years, and it is time that ends. We do need to raise the Social Security tax cap, but not for most of us. 82.59% of us are earning less than $100,000, says Wikipedia's statistics on household incomes. That means that we pay 6.2% of our incomes to Social Security, because we are under the $106,800 threshold to be free from the tax. The top 7.54% of Americans, who earn over $150,000 per year, pay an incredibly small portion of their income for Social Security. If you earn $250,000 per year, you are paying only 1.79% of your income for Social Security. Earning $500,000 per year, you're paying only 0.89% of your income for Social Security. At $1 million per year, you are paying 0.45% of your income for Social Security. If you got a $100 million bonus, as many Wall Streeters did, the sum of your income paid in Social Security taxes is so small as to be unnoticeable. How many yachts, cars, and second homes can you use, without being gluttonously wasteful? It seems to me that those who benefit most from the structure of our American society should also be charged Social Security taxes like the rest of us. 6.37% of Americans earn 1/3 of all income in the United States. Why do they get to ride the rest of us, when we are paying 6.2% of our income in Social Security withholdings? Note: Our Social Security tax in 2011 is 4.2% because of a special stimulus deal, which reverts to 6.2% in 2012. Many believe Republicans allowed this one-year tax reduction in order to make Social Security books look worse, so that they can scare us more and gut the program later.In "Budget Magic and the Social Security Tax Cap," Martin A. Sullivan points out that 50% of the projected shortfall would disappear if the tax cap were increased to $150,000 per year in income, and it would be 100% gone for at least the next 75 years if the tax cap were removed entirely. So it's time to stop Conservative Republicans, who want us to doubt the solvency of the Social Security System. The problem can be solved easily if rich people pay their fair share. If they are going to reap the benefits of our society, they should also share in the burdens. It's certain the rest of us are! Republican scaremongers want us to forego our benefits, so that they get the rewards. What is wrong with this picture?
