Rich people aren’t why social security is failing,
This paragraph says it all;
“ But the “Six Figure Limit” idea has drawn swift rebukes from retirement advocates, who see any cap or cut in Social Security benefits as a slippery slope”
And Social Security has 100 years of proof of slippery slopes.
Yup. As much as it would suck in my opinion they need to freeze the COLA and increase the contribution percentage from 6.2 to 7.2%. Also get back to the basics of who and what is covered.
Hard reset to the beginning.
1% from employer, 1% from employee, and a cap of $70,000.
The lower income people need to pay more into the system. I don’t know the number but i would guess around 10%
They pay the least in and get the most out. Your benefit should be more proportional to your contributions.
People forget that Social Security is not a retirement plan, it’s to prevent old people who didn’t plan for their own golden years from dying in the streets.
I’m not sure that’s the way to go. There are two circumstances that result in payouts above and unrelated to contributions. One is the minimum benefit. S/S requires 40 quarters (ten years) of participation to qualify. There is a minimum benefit regardless of one’s earnings and the amount paid in.
Second, is the spousal benefit. The S/S system entitles spouses to at least one half of the higher earner’s benefit. That is true whether the lower earning spouse’s earned benefit is lower or the lower benefit spouse never paid into S/S.
How quickly we forget. This benefit limiting idea reminds me of the discussion years ago when the income tax structure taxed married couples more two single people earning those amounts. There was evidence at the time that people who would have otherwise married, especially seniors, were living together but unmarried to pay less taxes. Eventually, the tax brackets were revised to basically tax singles as half of two.
I think this idea of limiting S/S benefits that would otherwise be paid to married people is as flawed an idea as the old income tax structure. The further we move towards paying people who haven’t contributed or contributed less the benefits, and then artificially limiting payments so people receive lower benefits, the more the system starts looking like a pure welfare program.
Also, if payouts to married folks are limited, that also sets the stage to raise the max taxable earnings much higher without raising the benefits those higher contributions would otherwise deserve. In other words, raising their income taxes without raising the income tax rates.
100% agree.
That’s why we need people at the lower bracket to pay power. They need to contribute more to the system.
Those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder are the ones that will need social security the most, it’s only fair they contribute their fair share.
You can’t expect the wealthy to foot all the bill. You need more people paying into it.