They are paying payroll taxes, which really is an income tax. Including the employers share, that amounts to 15.3% of income. Payroll taxes pay for the benefits of those retired. SS is a pay as you go system as is Medicare. Any "surplus" is put into the General Fund. And payroll taxes are regressive.
I’m not buying your claim we can pay ourselves interest. I have a few hundred thousand in cash I would like to invest and pay myself interest on. If I buy gov’t debt then I am being paid with my own money AND I have to pay tax on it to boot.
Facts are stubborn things. Do you believe we can lend money to ourselves?
And I don’t believe you are correct in your assessment the SS system can be sustained. A 75 year “fix” is a waste of time and effort and merely delays the obvious end to the system as well as makes the cost to fix it more.
LOL. Of course it can depending on what changes you make to the system. I gave you some of them. It might involve rasing taxes, reducing benefits, changing formulas and means testing, but the system can be preserved if that is what the people want.
They are paying payroll taxes, which really is an income tax. Including the employers share, that amounts to 15.3% of income. Payroll taxes pay for the benefits of those retired. SS is a pay as you go system as is Medicare. Any “surplus” is put into the General Fund. And payroll taxes are regressive.
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Sure but they are getting the withholding back and with the tax credits in place many people get a good part of the SS tax back as well. It needs to be paid as most working Americans pay it. They must file a return and actually SEE they are paying taxes. Currently almost 50% of the population is off the tax rolls and they need to be put back on and they have to KNOW they are back on so that when the greedy slobs in Washington go after our money these folks will know they have something to lose as well.
Currently when tax increases are mentioned those who pay none don’t care because it doesn’t effect them and when tax cuts are talked about they are AGAINST them. Why? because being someone who pays NO taxes they cannot benefit from the tax cut so are against it (if I can’t have it then neither can they). If everyone paid then everyone would have a stake in what happens and the politicians would have a much more difficult time in this area.
As for SS, certain assumptions have to be made and among them is an ever expanding gap between workers and retirees as people live longer and the birth rate continues to drop. Sure you can raise taxes through the roof, means test so many after paying in all their lives get nothing, delay retirement age to close to when people die anyway and other gimmicky “fixes” but all you have left is a sham which is still referred to as SS but which is nothing more then another way for the pols to take our money so they can hand it out elsewhere to get themselves re elected. SS as we know it is dead and privatised accounts will be the norm within 15-20 years. The reason it’s taking so long to do the obvious is the liberals haven’t yet figured out how to sell the people on doing something they have so long demonized the right on wanting to do.
It is testimony to the great ignorance of the majority of the population that there is not a huge demonstrations in the streets calling for a total reform of this kind, a reform which would allow retired folks to live far better then they do now AND pass on what’s left to their loved ones.