Taxing All Earned Income to ‘Save’ Social Security Would Be — AP’s Ohlemacher

In North Carolina, Social Security is an important way of keeping older adults out of poverty and is a critical way to stimulate local economies accounting for $22 billion in local spending. With disability tax revenues coming in at only 81% of benefits next year and the disability trust fund to be exhausted, benefits will either be cut or funds must be raised to maintain the benefits. And as the number of retirees and people on Social Security disability rolls increases it’s going to get even larger.

Yet it is unrealistic to think that Republicans, who control both Houses of Congress after all, would agree to such a change on its own.

In Hawai’i, more than 250,000 people, or over 1 in 6 residents, rely on Social Security benefits.

Gallup-which released the poll numbers for the 80th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Social Security Act into law on August. 14, 1935-also found that two-thirds of Americans believe the Social Security system is in serious trouble.

The government recognizes this possibility and may adjust your client’s Social Security benefits to reflect this windfall.

Typical boomers, however, didn’t have as many children as their parents did.

Social Security payments are calculated using the 35 years in which people earn the most. Today there are fewer than three. “Many people can work with those kinds of accommodations”, she says.

Americans are also living longer. A child born in 2005 is expected to live 77.9 years. That comes to $12,228 a year. Doing so knocks a year off Social Security’s run-dry date from 2035 to 2034. As a result, the government received more money from taxes than was necessary to fund the Social Security obligations, creating a surplus that exists to this day.

Republicans are balking at the fix.

In the short-term Congress should ensure adequate funding for the disability program with an infusion from the retirement reserves.

None of this is new; it has been known for decades that Social Security would start facing more pressure as the baby-boom generation retires and more people start collecting benefits while a smaller percentage of Americans work and pay into the system.

While Social Security is part of our economic life today, that doesn’t mean we can take its future for granted.

The numbers are beyond comprehension. There were still five workers paying in for every retiree.

The wage base is not an arbitrary number: In 1983, the last time that Congress significantly reformed Social Security, it was pegged at an amount that would tax about 90 percent of all wage income in the United States. For 2015, only the first $118,500 of wage income is taxed.

Continuing to do nothing about the national debt is irresponsible. In exchange for reduced benefits, you can retire as early as 62.

That’s why we’re marking this special anniversary with a birthday card that asks the 2016 Presidential candidates to share their plans for making sure Social Security can celebrate another 80 years.

They are now valued at $2.8 trillion.

“These GOP attacks on Social Security and Medicare need to stop”, said Alliance President Barbara Easterling. They also point out to a beloved great grandchild who lost her dad nearly two years ago and receives Social Security through her dad’s survivors’ benefits.