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Challenging Conventional Wisdom on Social Security
Five members of the Board of Big Sky 55+, a group that organizes older Montanans, challenge the view the Social Security is in trouble. They note the following five points: Social Security is here for the long term; Social Security has revenue streams other than payroll taxes; The Social Security Trust Fund is solvent; Social Security does not add a penny to the public debt; and Undocumented workers are prohibited by law from receiving Social Security. All are true, but the fund is not solvent past 2033, at which time benefit cuts of over 20% will take place absent reform. The authors’ suggestion that payroll taxes can simply be raised has been noted by other experts as just buying 5-7 years or so of additional solvency. Read their piece in The Daily Montanan here.
As an example of the leading thoughts on reforming Social Security, the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC, Inc.) believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized. This can be achieved without tax increases by slight modifications to cost of living adjustments and payments to high income beneficiaries plus gradually increasing the full (but not early) retirement age. AMAC Action, AMAC’s advocacy arm, supports an increase in the threshold where benefits are taxed and then indexing for inflation, and calls for eliminating the reduction in people’s benefits for those choosing to 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 many congressional offices and staff over the past decade.