Discussion: Social Security Advocates Sound The Alarm About The Latest Trump Tax Plan

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This would be the end of the GOP. Many middle aged working people do not have defined retirement plans, or if they do they are not enough to live on. Social Security is a life line.

From a straightforward standpoint around the time of his second inauguration WBush announced reform of Social Security - which got roundly backed up - and many believe began the momentum of the 2006 ‘tidal wave’ mid term elections.

This effort would be more opaque as it would be cloaked underneath “Tax Reform”. We “see” you GOP. Independents “see” you GOP. Even some republicans who have concerns about their own retirements “see” you GOP.

Sure the folks with six figure salaries on TeeVee talk a good game about “saving” social security by privatizing it, but most Americans are not living on six figure salaries.

After the ongoing push back on Repeal and Replace, would they really embark cutting out funding for social security? If so maybe MAGA should read WAGAG (Whigs are going away again.)

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The destruction of Medicare is next.

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Medicare is a payroll tax also.

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I suspect the real target here is Medicare, since the Republicans completely believe that people should “die and decrease the surplus population”. I foresee many, many emails from AARP, boy am I glad they have a lobbying group in place, because they jump on issues like this really fast and they have clout.

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Yes it would, but the destruction project ever remains near and dear the Republican heart (yes, an oxymoron that). And of course, Trump chatted with the Koch brothers this weekend. Such convenient timing. Just as the swing into tax reform begins.

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No worries.
About all gop can pass is gas.

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yep this would be a two-fer-one move.

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Payroll taxes are a dumb dumb way to finance social insurance in an age of expanding automation and globalization. They disincentivize and penalize labor at a time when we badly need to find more things for people to do. We do need to end them and replace them with much high taxes on high incomes, as well as taxes on land and wealth. But that ain’t happening anytime soon, and at this point Americans can’t remotely be blamed for not trusting Republicans with any changes to the social contract.

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Let us hope!

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That’ll be the day! Like never.

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It’s a sketchy plan at best, and even the dumbest Rs know how unpopular destroying SS would be by turning it into something privatized and with limits. But by worrying “The End Is Near, We’re All Screwed!” we do the RWN’s work for them and only scare ourselves.

At the same time let’s celebrate this, Texas Voter ID laws are ruled discriminatory

HOUSTON — A federal judge ruled on Monday that the voter-identification law that the Texas Legislature passed in 2011 was enacted with the intent to discriminate against black and Hispanic voters, striking down the law and raising the possibility that the state’s election procedures could be put back under federal oversight.

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This approach would give a worker earning $60,000 a year an additional $3,720 in take-home pay, a possible win that lawmakers could highlight back in their districts even though it would involve changing the funding mechanism for Social Security

That sounds like a perfect way to sell it! It’s like advising someone to stop saving for retirement – “The good news is, you’ll have more money in your paycheck every month”

At least Bush knew how to make this palatable by saying people would be in control of their own money. This is just pathetic.

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How do they disincentivize labor? I’ve known one person ever, a relative of mine, who aspired to earn just enough each year so he wouldn’t have to pay any taxes. He was poor as dirt, and everyone I know thought that was an idiotic financial strategy. Do you really think people will choose not to work or earn money just because of payroll taxes?

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I’m a liberal/socialist verging on commie by most people’s accounts, but when you tax something you make it more expensive and reduce demand. More straightforward is the employer share, which clearly raises costs and incentivizes automation and outsourcing. But in the end whether it’s employee or employer, payroll taxes are regressive, and make labor more expensive, and mean that less spending power is available to employees/labor… and this reduces aggregate economic demand and increases inequality and does all the opposite of the things we want (and really need) for capitalism to sort of still work.

Edit: another way to look at this is that what we actually need going forward is expanded income tax credits for low and middle incomes—again to incentivize gainful employment (an economic and social good) in the age of automation… That’s the exact opposite of payroll taxes

This is war. Really. If there was ever a reason to take up arms and storm the gates, this will be it. The GOP is the single biggest threat to our democracy and our community and we need to be willing to die on that hill.

If you’ve not seen it, watch the great film “Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without a Pause”. It speaks to exactly this sort of brutal proposal from the right wing. Never, GOP. Fucking Never!

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But if they eliminate the tax, and that’s the source of Social Security’s funding, then the whole program will collapse in a heap of smoldering ruins, and millions of people would suffer!

I can only imagine how the Republicans would respond to such a thing:

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I think they shart too… enough of that is toxic.

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If the GOP wanted to eliminate the business share of the tax while guaranteeing that Social Security would be fully funded for the next 50+ years, they would eliminate the income cap on Social Security taxes and change the law to apply the tax to all sources of income - dividends as well as regular wages…

But I’m not holding my breath!

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The goal here would seem to be to pit Dems, who favor “Big Government” and “Taxes on Everyone” against workers, middle class people struggling to get by, and so on. The People v Big Government Dems.

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