Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.
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Lately, we have been hearing a lot of talk about “entitlement reform,” specifically referring to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs.
However, most people don’t realize that “saving” Social Security is actually much easier than we think. First, Congress needs to stop “borrowing” money from the Social Security Trust Fund. It’s been doing that for decades.
Social Security has always run a surplus, so our politicians have treated it like a piggy bank. That’s how we ended up with all of those IOU’s (Treasury bills) in the Social Security Trust Fund. The other thing we need to do is make sure that people pay Social Security (FICA) tax on all of their income, not just their first $110,000.
Does that seem fair? I wonder how many people know about this. If we took just those two steps, Social Security would be solvent forever. And with all of the additional revenue coming in, we could reduce FICA tax rates for everyone, including those making more than $110,000. But, unfortunately, you won’t hear any politicians talking about this. It’s much easier for them to just cut people’s benefits.
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