Shaw: Reader responds to Patterson’s Social Security op-ed
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By Bill Shaw | Sun City
After reading the 11/13/24 op-ed by Tom Patterson on the looming insolvency of Social Security, I was surprised at what was missing.
Mr. Patterson dismissed raising the 2025 $176,100 cap on income subject to SS taxes — perhaps a donut-hole approach — 0% from $176,100 to $400,000 (tied to the current index guiding the lower band) and unlimited (like Medicare) thereafter.
Instead, he drifts to raising the retirement age as the default option, and alluding SS to being “like other government welfare programs.”
Missing was any mention of President-elect Trump’s plan to hasten the insolvency of both SS and Medicare by two to three years with his plan to exempt SS benefits from income taxes.
Under the 1983 and 1993 bills enacting taxation of benefits (enacted then to help extend the programs’ solvency), the income taxes raised are directed to the SS and Medicare trust funds.
To be clear, this tax cut only benefits the top 50% of beneficiaries (SS benefits of lower income retirees are already $0 under these bills) and will deprive the two trust funds of $1.6 trillion to $1.8 trillion over the next 10 years.
Eighty-five percent of my SS benefits are taxable, and I am OK given where the resulting taxes are directed.
I’m curious if Mr. Patterson feels entitled to Donald Trump’s proposed tax giveaway to the wealthiest beneficiaries? I don’t.
Perhaps we should consider fully taxing benefits for higher-income beneficiaries to further bolster the SS trust fund?
