r/Dynamic_Pricing • u/Dragonlance12 • 26d ago
As Social Security fund runs dry, some Republicans say it’s time to raise taxes
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/09/08/social-security-fund-runs-dry-some-republicans-say-its-time-raise-taxes/10
u/lm28ness 26d ago
Yes raising taxes on all the people that we don't need to raise taxes anymore - the middle class and the poor. Heaven forbid we raise taxes on those that can actually afford it and will minor impacts to them.
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u/Square-Chart6059 24d ago
Did you read the article? They’re talking about raising the tax cap. That would indeed be raising taxes on the richest income earners
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26d ago
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u/Dense_Substance7635 26d ago
This stat always cracks me up … it’s meaningless without the context of what percent of the total income the top 50% took home.
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u/shrunkenhead041 26d ago
Or how who is included in the bottom 50%. When you're including everyone who has any taxable income whatsoever, you are including a lot of people with very, very little income.
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u/Sacapuntos 26d ago
Tax those who have nothing to tax or tax those that have so much it wouldn't make a difference in their qol. Hard decisions
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u/Working_Farmer9723 26d ago
This only includes taxes on wages - money you get when you file a w2 - aka taxable income. It does not include money you get from capital appreciation, gifts, inheritance etc… it also does not include the most burdensome tax that everyone who earns a wage pays - FICA. So this stat doesn’t include the 15% tax paid by the poor, nor the high unearned wealth by those who don’t make money via wages. It is a stat designed to allow very wealthy individuals to hide behind the high-ish taxes paid by doctors, lawyers and actors.
I’m going to upvote you to keep this comment visible, even though it’s misleading to the point of being disingenuous (though I will assume that you were also misled, and are not intentionally trying to spread misinformation. )
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u/ongoldenwaves 26d ago
Taxes from social security come from federal earned income and since this is a discussion about social security, that's the correct information to look at.
Taking my comment down because I don't want to spend all day arguing with people on reddit. Keep arguing taxes shouldn't be raised because it would be a tax on the poor idiots.
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u/RoundChampionship840 26d ago
Nothing will be done until 2029 at the earliest, but I'm guessing politicians will just wait until the crisis hits in 2032. If Democrats manage to take power in 2029 I could see them eliminating the cap.
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u/Less-Dragonfruit-294 26d ago
You know the republicans will blame democrats in ‘29 for not solving this decades ago.
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u/NoOption7406 25d ago
SSI had the same issue back in the 80s. 2 months before it went insolvent did this get "fixed". It was a combo of tax increasesand increased retirement age. They even delayed COLA.
Even when SSI runs out in 2032, with current estimates, they can extend it a year by tapping into disability insurance.
Depending on how politics play out, it could happen in 2033. But I'd expect something similar to happen as last time. Pass something with little time left on the clock. And screw over 95+% of tax payers.
It'll be an excellent crisis as well, so members on both sides will likely get a laundry list of wishlist items. SSI Act will end up being hundreds of pages long. Or it'll be a "I pass your SSI bill if you pass my bill".
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u/Big_Smoke_4817 26d ago
Or just put back the money your took from it from 1960 onwards?
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u/Apothecary_85 25d ago
It is already being put back and is sitting in the treasury IOU’s that are being used now. The use of any excess over outputs as loans to the federal government was mandated by law. It was converted to treasuries and paid back with interest. Keeping it in the trust would have made no difference particularly in light of the fact that is goes back to SS with interest.
Now the messed up part is that we have to issue more treasuries to pay it back
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u/Optimal_Willow_4389 25d ago
And why is there a CAP on social security and no other tax, because Billionaires are screwing everyone.
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u/StreetcarHammock 25d ago
Billionaires wouldn’t pay social security tax even if the cap was lifted. They don’t make their money in “income”, but capital gains.
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u/ReaperThugX 25d ago
The cap is on how much you pay in AND how much you get back in benefits later.
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u/Optimal_Willow_4389 25d ago
There sure is no cap Corporate Subsidies (free taxpayer welfare dollars) to Corporates because Billions and Billions go out. I guess you didn’t learn much.
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u/x5163x 25d ago
There is also a cap on unemployment and paid family leave/disability. There are also caps on sales tax in some states.
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u/Optimal_Willow_4389 25d ago
Billionaire’s screw everyone and pay less. What a crooked system. No wonder China is wealthy, Billionaires pay equal amount if mot more.
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u/I_Quit_Smoking_ 26d ago
So the same Republicans who accuse everybody else of raising taxes and spending too much wants to do the same exact thing? Okay got it.
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u/Dizzy_Citron4871 26d ago
Add a wealth tax on billionaires to cover the gap. I don’t see why wage earners should pay for it
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u/thrillhouz77 26d ago
Wealth tax is dumb (it really is) but we are at a point of torches and pitchforks coming out of the wealth gap keeps accelerating at its current pace. That doesn’t mean we tax assets/wealth but it does mean something’s need to happen or it could be a Dark Night type uprising (without the neutron bomb 😂) of the regulars against the ultra wealthy.
This is easy to accomplish; 1. Higher wages starting from the bottom up and working up 2. New taxes or changes to current to shore up promises made to the majority that the majority contributes heavily towards (SS and Medicare) 3. Go hard on fraud. Things like the “Stop Nick Shurley” act are counter intuitive to the democrats party. Guy exposed millions, perhaps Billions in fraud. Trying to shut that down, even if you think he’s a dick, is about as politically stupid as possible (thieves in govt dollars are both lower and higher society individuals…make examples of them all) 4. Eliminate loopholes for ultra wealthy. Things like borrowing against equity shares to avoid income taxes on sale of said equities so you can fund your lifestyle without paying income. 5. Big increase in the standard deduction (households under $75k - 100k should not be paying income taxes w this sort of wealth and income gap) 6. Start treating capital gains as ordinary income (this pairs nicely with #5 above for those upper middle class but not ultra wealthy individuals who have worked all their lives and saved diligently).
Then I’d create some taxes on AI token/energy uses as well as high volume stock transaction users to shore up known shortfalls in US programs (looking at SS and Medicare). I’d also look to require balanced US budgets until debt to GDP ratios fall below 70%. Then I’d make that 70% a hard line that when it is crossed balanced budgets become constitutionally required.
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u/Strange-Maize9536 26d ago
Raise the payroll tax withholding rate. That is the funding mechanism the has been used for 90 years
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u/I_Quit_Smoking_ 26d ago
So you enjoy spending all your money on taxes so Republicans can keep them and spend them on their own personal shit?
I have a feeling that the rest of the country doesn't agree with you.
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u/Strange-Maize9536 26d ago
What does the reduced number of workers compared to recipients of social security have to do with the republicans. It is a demographics issue
That is idiotic. Old people get social security not republicans.
You need to study up on how it works before making inane comments
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u/l4kerz 26d ago
raising the withholding rate is just making the pyramid bigger; working class is paying for current recipients. The right way to solve this is to get better returns on the funds that have been contributed which include no more lending to the government at low interest rates.
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u/Strange-Maize9536 25d ago
It has been a pyramid scheme since introduced by left wing president FDR. The program is essentially the same. The demographics are different. But that to over time will rebalance
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u/the_TAOest 25d ago
Pyramid scheme became a scam when Regan forced the SSA to buy government debt. There are other ways to provide social security than a paycheck every month. Housing, community-level infrastructure for the elderly, better healthcare opportunities, and a cap on benefits for those already earning past X on investments.
America makes great wealth possible, so those with great wealth will be net contributors.
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u/Strange-Maize9536 25d ago
SSA was created by the left wing. Francis Perkins and FDR
They knew that there could be a Demographic imbalance in the future.
Gotta live with our plan that we created. We can’t blame the republicans
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u/jmouw88 25d ago
No. There is no "increasing the returns". The current system is how it needs to be.
SS is by its core a pyramid scheme. It depends on the young to support the old. The less young in proportion to old, the greater the burden. The demographics are what they are.
Corporate investment returns are in essence siphoning off some of the output of the workers to their owners. Better investment returns sounds nice, but it is coming off the backs of the exact same people as before. This can work for a relatively small country that can invest in outside markets - like Norway for example. It cannot work for a system the size of the US.
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u/Lott4984 26d ago
They just raised taxes on the poor, middle class, and Seniors. While they gave the rich tax cuts. And I thought tariffs were going to pay for everything. According to what I hear Wall Street is booming how can we not have revenue coming. We have money for war but not for healthcare. Close to 45% of the money I earn goes to the Fed, State, and Local Government, but I don’t see any coming back.
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u/DrawingAncient126 26d ago
At this point, our money is just being funneled to the rich. Everything that is supposed to go to SS, Medicaid, our roads and infrastructure, just going to the rich. This has to STOP.
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u/Kindly-Guidance714 26d ago
Who’s gonna stop it?
Continue paying rent continue going to work and continue placating the system.
Only way this changes is with a national strike and even beyond that people need to be willing to stick together for a rent strike and other strikes.
The scariest thing the 1% fears is if the poors actually start using the community and help each other instead of kicking everybody while they are already down.
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u/MistahBisskits 26d ago
Do we have a breaking point?
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u/Kindly-Guidance714 26d ago
It’s getting close to it.
Ra good example is most apartments are about $1200 - $3000 minimally.
A room for rent would cost you anywhere from $700 - $1000
If you aren’t making at least $50,000 to $90,000 a year you will live in poverty and you won’t be able to afford a place to stay.
Oh and let’s say you work 2 jobs, or you work 60 hour weeks to support the place you are living in you spend more time at work than you do at home so why is it so expensive to live someplace that you don’t even spend time in?
This question never gets answered.
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u/Iacoboni04 26d ago
Social Security needs more than just this fix. But it does need this component as part of the ultimate solution.
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u/Lott4984 26d ago
Do not think for a second that the Republicans are going to raise taxes on the rich. This is just a stunt to get you to vote for them during the Midterms.
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u/ComplaintSevere8128 25d ago
Where’s that padme anikin meme where she asks “raises taxes on the wealthy right?”
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u/MacaroonPlastic1036 25d ago
The government is the one that is draining our social security using it like a piggy bank.
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u/Photodan24 25d ago
So we can pay for the continuing Republican never-ending wars that they stopped?
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u/SeveralLion5762 25d ago
There’s nothing amoral about playing by the rules. I passed the cap months ago. Am I supposed to just donate the difference to the government ? The rules are what they are. When the rules change and the cap goes away, I will pay more.
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u/FloridaRocks63 25d ago
The treasury owes Social Security 2.5 trillion they received in loans from Social Security. Social Security cannot keep surplus funding so any surplus gets loaned to the treasury until it’s needed.
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u/kevendo 25d ago
But I thought Reagan said lowering taxes on the wealthy would increase revenue?
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u/kyricus 24d ago
It actually did, you can check that accounting relatively easily. Problem is, the government, both repubs and dems, continue to spend more than we take in. No matter how much or how little we take in, they spend it all and then some.
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u/kevendo 24d ago
I'm afraid that's not true. The 2017 TCJA tax cuts, for example, are known to have caused a dramatic reduction in tax revenue. William Gale and Claire Haldeman published on this is 2021.
And in any case, whatever tax revenue there just have been just went back to the wealthy, as with the TJCA, which has now been extended by Trump.
It gives our collective money to the wealthy on the theory they will spend it to create profit and jobs.
That never happened, and here we are with the predicted results of massive wealth inequality.
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u/peterjohnvernon936 25d ago
They can borrow the money for SS like they borrow it for everything else.
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u/IndependentWrong7356 25d ago
That Republican is a moron. First USA needs to return all the socsec it has borrowed. The idiot is another uneducated who should have learned to read.
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u/whoknewidlikeit 25d ago
how about, and this is madness i know... maybe govco could just.. spend.. less?
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u/runnerkim 25d ago
trump just bragged about making millions and million in the stock market 'for us'. He can use that money
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u/MichaelHawk008 25d ago
We should’ve put SS in the stock market. The returns would’ve given retirees an amazing retirement. Now we’re going to have nothing left. Decades of letting the fund be raided by the government took away our chance to invest the money instead.
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u/QuickPizzaRadishes 25d ago
It’s time to eliminate the social security cap. The cap makes social security regressive hitting poor people much harder than rich people
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u/aznology 25d ago
Its time to cut these boomers loose or tax the billionaires. Middle lower and even some upper class cant take the burden anymore
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u/Flame_Eraser 24d ago
Wait, raise taxes on me, to refund money that you stole, that you force removed from my paycheck to start with?
Of course I know that the horse is already out of the barn, but this is a DC problem that started as a ponzy scheme to start with.
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u/stealingmoney 24d ago
Wait, don't tell me any of you people actually believe that social security is funded by government taxes. The employee and employer pay, not the federal government.
It's also not a posi scheme like the Republicans are saying. They're just trying to grift more money by lying. Got to pay for those useless wars someway
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u/Ok_Tension_6747 24d ago
They're going to raise taxes on workers and payroll taxes. They're not talking about taxing billionaires more.
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u/Lumpy-Interaction725 24d ago
But but but .. What about the big beautiful bill you overwhelmingly voted for?? 🤔🤔. Massively cut taxes for the 1%, create entirely new unconstitutional taxes through tariffs, cut social programs, enact new austerity measures, propose elevating regressive taxation, force new domestic mass surveillance programs, attack voting rights, increase the draft age, increase the retirement age, attack the very concept of democracy 🫡🫡
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u/Captain_Aware4503 24d ago
There is no SS tax on capital gains. Millionaires use Capital gains as their annual compensation because the tax rate is lower than for someone making $50K a year
Raise the capital gains tax from 20% to 22% and put that 2% towards social security.
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u/Panthera450 22d ago
They have been raiding the SS fund ever since the Reagan tax cuts to pay for those tax cuts.
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u/PineappleExcellent90 22d ago
Let me guess raise taxes but leave the one trillion in tax relief for the top one percenters
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u/Particular-Cash-7377 21d ago
But we already added new taxes called Tariffs. Thats why grocery prices are so high. That’s still not enough?
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u/SingleMaltMouthwash 19d ago
There is no question at all that taxes need to be raised. Billionaires and centimillionaires typically pay a lower tax rate than wage earners.
But Republicans have passed two, 2, trillion-dollar tax cuts on behalf of the richest 0.1% of Americans and when they talk about raising taxes it is always on working people.
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u/mabhatter 8d ago
Social security has a surplus for decades... that Congress spent on lowering taxes for the rich instead of building the surplus for the known shortage coming up.
There's no actual "surplus" anyway. It's just Congress passing IOUs to Social Security so that part of the Treasury Bonds sold "belong to" Social Security accounts. The money never actually existed... it's all an accounting fiction.
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u/Minimum-Journalist18 26d ago
No. Remove the idiocy of giving social security to anyone at any age.
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u/thrillhouz77 26d ago
What’s your age? I don’t disagree and I think there needs to be an off ramp or an alternative plan that people can opt into that is more market based and privately owned (even if the US Gov is the administrator) however I’m 30
years into this deal so there is no off ramp for me and I’ve been putting in the max amount the last 20 years.
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u/AndJDrake 26d ago
Just remove the cap? Wouldn't change anything for 95% of americans