Payroll tax or retirement age hikes? Debate continues. - AMAC & CNBC
Lorie Konish summarizes the state of Social Security reform as of this moment. The debate between raising payroll taxes, either by percentages or the amount of wages that are taxable, and raising the retirement age over time splits the two political parties. Of course many in both parties continue ignoring an issue that will not go away. Insolvency is just a decade away. Now, the American Academy of Actuaries lets anyone explore Social Security’s problems and decide exactly what changes they would make to restore its solvency with a new virtual tool. Users are presented with nine buckets of options in a fictional community, and they may choose from all, some or none of the buckets when choosing from the menu of reforms. Full article here.
The Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized. This can be achieved without tax increases by changing cost of living adjustments, increasing the retirement age, and modest adjustments to the highest income beneficiaries. The AMAC plan also suggests eliminating taxation of benefits, or at least annually adjusting the amount taxed for inflation, and eliminating the reduction of benefits for those who work before full retirement age. AMAC is resolute in its mission that Social Security be preserved for current and successive generations and has gotten the attention of lawmakers in D.C., meeting with a great many congressional offices and their staffs over the past several years.