From Semafor:
A bipartisan group led by Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Bill Cassidy, R-La. is considering gradually raising the retirement age to about 70 as part of their legislation to overhaul Social Security, Semafor has learned from two people briefed on their efforts.
Other options on the table include changing the existing formula that calculates monthly benefits from one based on a worker’s average earnings over 35 years to a different formula that’s based instead on the number of years spent working and paying into Social Security.
The plan also includes a proposed sovereign wealth fund (as previously reported by Semafor) that could be seeded with $1.5 trillion or more in borrowed money to jumpstart stock investments, the people said. If it fails to generate an 8% return, both the maximum taxable income and the payroll tax rate would be increased to ensure Social Security stays on track to be solvent another 75 years. ...
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., a member of the group, previously said that raising the payroll tax cap was under discussion. Only the first $160,000 of employees' earnings are currently subject to payroll taxes, which help fund Social Security. If Congress fails to step in, retirement benefits will be cut roughly 20% for seniors starting in 2032, per the Congressional Budget Office.
Are there any real Democrats on this "bipartisan" group? I know that Angus King caucuses with Democrats but he's not a Democrat.
None of this has any hope of passage in this Congress.
7 comments:
So it is always okay to raise my retirement age but not okay to cut your retirement benefit. But this isnt a scheme right?
Unbelievable! Where are their brains?
Raise the cap and include all wage income plus a percentage of all other income. Even out the benefit amount to quell welfare alarmists. No rise in age and no benefit cuts. Problem solved.
The retirement age shouldn't be raised above age 68. Raising it to age 70 is going too far.
What's next, 75, 80? People would be going to work in wheelchairs and passing away before they qualify to retire.
@8:21
Noone is saying that's okay, and it's the same thing effectively.
Also, wildly silly idea to link increasing the tax cap/rate to account for stock investment ROI less than 8%. Market crash = automatic FICA tax increase. Sure, that will work out great. I'm even a big proponent of raising taxes, but that's just dumb.
The years worked might help some lower wage earners. Now if someone works 30 years and makes say a million dollars when indexed for inflation, they'd receive the same as one who worked 15 years with the same earnings. Some kind of increase for working more years doesn't seem unfair.
Angus King is a reliable vote for the Democrats... at least as much as Cassidy is for the Republicans. But, it's going to take both sides to give a little to cone up with a long term solution. A little give here and there goes a long way. The sooner you tweak it, the less you have to do to get past the boomer bubble. Doing nothing is the easiest choice now, but the worst choice long-term.
Post a Comment