Spotlight on Social Security Tax– 200+ People Have Already Paid Theirs in 2024 - AMAC & Forbes
Teresa Ghilarducci, a former economics professor, highlights the Social Security wage cap in this Forbes piece. Only the first $168,600 in wages in 2024 are subject to the combined employee and employer 12.4% tax, and many of the uber rich such as Elon Musk and Tim Cook of Apple would have paid that within minutes or hours on Jan 1. She notes various proposals to increase that cap and other tweaks to Social Security as a way to address the impending shortfall of revenues and benefits looming in less than a decade. The author notes anyone can examine the major proposals and options for fixing Social Security finances at The Office of the Chief Actuary’s webpage to read their easy-to -understand analysis. Finally, reflecting a sense of optimism, Ghilarducci says, “If you think tax increases for Social Security is impossible remember, in 1994, a bipartisan Congress eliminated the income cap for Medicare. Both Republicans and Democrats want to save Social Security. The majority of Americans want more revenue for Social Security. The quickest way to get it might just be to be ask the small fraction of the highest income Americans – especially the 200 some-odd — to pay more.” Full piece 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.