I would need to see the phase in / out schedule, but isn't what he is calling for a nice, healthy compromise? Secure benefits for the long-term for those who really need it and those who don't still pay into the program.
I like this for a few reasons:
1 - I don't like the idea of raising the taxes only because it gives the government more money to spend on things unrelated to SS. All the funds from running a surplus in SS were sent to the Treasury, who provided the equivalent of an IOU to the SS Trust. Problem is, when it comes time to payback those IOU's, the Government needs to either 1) Be running a surplus everywhere else in the budget to finance yearly SS deficits 2) borrow more or 3) raise taxes. Frankly, neither sounds appetizing.
2- There has been an unsettling increase of Disability payments thru SS that the government needs to fix before raising taxes. The following charts below tell the story.
We can thank Reagan for this. Early on, he put pressure on eliminating fraud in disability claims and it worked. Too well. Political backlash in Washington provided pressure and Reagan and Congress caved, signing into law SSDBRA in 1984. This law instructed the government to place greater weight on applicants’ own assessments of their disability, especially when it came to pain and discomfort; to replace the government’s medical assessments with those of the applicants’ own doctors; and to loosen the screening criteria for mental illness, among other things. I think we can agree the Mental Illness is probably a good thing (I am sure there is fraud there too unfortunately), but that is just a small portion of the increase as shown in the charts.
The other issue with disability is that the benefits of claiming disability have grown. The payout factors were supposed to replace most of your income prior to "injury", with some means testing. So, for the lower end earners would get most, if not all, of their income replaced. Here is the kicker........if you qualify for disability, you qualify for Medicare, regardless of age. Free insurance is a nice carrot. (Most of this disability information was from a special NPR investigation)
3 - For those making above the tax limit, I would assume most, if not all, would rather invest that money on their own. This promotes self reliance (which is a very good thing) and can generate additional tax revenue streams for the government (thru investment taxes, and economic activity from increased investment).
4 - Get people working again and pass freakin meaningful immigration reform that protects the SS trust and other government revenue streams. I am all for expanding the work force thru immigration, so long that there are protections of SS. It was just reported that the over 500K Dreamers were issues SS numbers and the IRS acknowledged these individuals can go back and claim refunds under the Earned Income Tax Credit for time they worked illegally — even if they didn’t file returns or pay taxes for those years. They can also now make claims for Disability. We need to ensure there are protections in place to prevent fraud from immigrants (even if it is a small %, the numbers add up)
5 - SS and disability needs to be robust enough for the people that need it. I am of the opinion that there is more than enough money raised and that thru proper means testing and disability reform, we could preserve the benefits for those who need it.
I applaud CC for what he is trying to do. He is brave enough to suggest something different even thou it may be politically difficult. We need more people like him who pursue the right thing, not the politically correct thing.
I would need to see the phase in / out schedule, but isn't what he is calling for a nice, healthy compromise? Secure benefits for the long-term for those who really need it and those who don't still pay into the program.
I like this for a few reasons:
1 - I don't like the idea of raising the taxes only because it gives the government more money to spend on things unrelated to SS. All the funds from running a surplus in SS were sent to the Treasury, who provided the equivalent of an IOU to the SS Trust. Problem is, when it comes time to payback those IOU's, the Government needs to either 1) Be running a surplus everywhere else in the budget to finance yearly SS deficits 2) borrow more or 3) raise taxes. Frankly, neither sounds appetizing.
2- There has been an unsettling increase of Disability payments thru SS that the government needs to fix before raising taxes. The following charts below tell the story.
We can thank Reagan for this. Early on, he put pressure on eliminating fraud in disability claims and it worked. Too well. Political backlash in Washington provided pressure and Reagan and Congress caved, signing into law SSDBRA in 1984. This law instructed the government to place greater weight on applicants’ own assessments of their disability, especially when it came to pain and discomfort; to replace the government’s medical assessments with those of the applicants’ own doctors; and to loosen the screening criteria for mental illness, among other things. I think we can agree the Mental Illness is probably a good thing (I am sure there is fraud there too unfortunately), but that is just a small portion of the increase as shown in the charts.
The other issue with disability is that the benefits of claiming disability have grown. The payout factors were supposed to replace most of your income prior to "injury", with some means testing. So, for the lower end earners would get most, if not all, of their income replaced. Here is the kicker........if you qualify for disability, you qualify for Medicare, regardless of age. Free insurance is a nice carrot. (Most of this disability information was from a special NPR investigation)
3 - For those making above the tax limit, I would assume most, if not all, would rather invest that money on their own. This promotes self reliance (which is a very good thing) and can generate additional tax revenue streams for the government (thru investment taxes, and economic activity from increased investment).
4 - Get people working again and pass freakin meaningful immigration reform that protects the SS trust and other government revenue streams. I am all for expanding the work force thru immigration, so long that there are protections of SS. It was just reported that the over 500K Dreamers were issues SS numbers and the IRS acknowledged these individuals can go back and claim refunds under the Earned Income Tax Credit for time they worked illegally — even if they didn’t file returns or pay taxes for those years. They can also now make claims for Disability. We need to ensure there are protections in place to prevent fraud from immigrants (even if it is a small %, the numbers add up)
5 - SS and disability needs to be robust enough for the people that need it. I am of the opinion that there is more than enough money raised and that thru proper means testing and disability reform, we could preserve the benefits for those who need it.
I applaud CC for what he is trying to do. He is brave enough to suggest something different even thou it may be politically difficult. We need more people like him who pursue the right thing, not the politically correct thing.
