Social security is like a leaky bucket. And making it bigger just makes the leaks bigger. Rachel Greszler writes:
Within the next month or so, the House of Representatives will likely pass the Social Security 2100 Act, which would make Social Security solvent by imposing super-sized tax increases.
The bill goes further than just raising taxes enough to avoid benefit cuts. It would raise taxes
enough to increase benefits immediately for all current and future Social Security recipients.
Were the bill to pass, Social Security tax rates would rise for everyone beginning in 2020, rising incrementally from the current 12.4% to 14.8% in 2043.
Once fully phased in, someone making $50,000 a year would have to pay $1,200 more per year than what they’re paying today. Their total Social Security tax bill would be $7,400—about as much as an entire household spends on food in a year.
What’s most perplexing about the Social Security 2100 Act is that it would increase benefits the most for wealthy Americans.
Under the act, a worker earning an average of $30,000 a year would receive $333 more in Social Security benefits. Millionaires, on the other hand, would receive $12,333 more per year. […]
If young Americans were to keep and save the money that this new bill would take from them in taxes, low-income earners would have $14,778 more in retirement; middle-income earners would have $37,601 more; and high-income earners would have $99,311 more.
[Rachel Greszler, “Why a Bigger Social Security Program Would Make Us Worse Off,” The Daily Signal, June 18]
