Last week, President Trump called for a reduction in payroll contributions–lower employee and employer Medicare and Social Security payments. Of course, this would mean less money in the Medicare and Social Security Trust Funds. It would deplete their reserves and their ability to pay out people’s benefits at the level they do today.
Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, commented that President Trump’s insistence on reducing payroll contributions is not an appropriate response to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s inefficient and does not help anyone who has been laid off from work, the people who need money most.
In fact, President Trump now says he supports reducing payroll contributions permanently. In his words, “The payroll tax cut would be a great thing for this country.” He wants a way to justify cutting Social Security benefits.
Trump’s proposal jeopardizes Social Security. Social Security is self-financing, not adding any money to the deficit. It depends on payroll contributions to support itself. Workers pay in to protect themselves against lost wages after they retire, or leave their jobs because of disability, or lose a spouse.
In the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and their unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program.”
Over several decades, politicians have tried unsuccessfully to privatize Social Security. They’ve tried cutting benefits through a chained CPI and means testing. Today, the Trump administration is trying to deprive it of needed funds, “starve the beast.”
Right now, the federal government should be working as hard as possible to get people money, not finding ways to deprive them of their long-term financial security.
Here’s more from Just Care:
Leave a Reply