Every few months, another headline tells Americans that Social Security is going broke.It's scary.It's also not quite true.Social Security isn't going to wake up one morning with zero dollars coming through the door.
Even if its trust fund reserves are depleted, millions of workers will still be paying Social Security taxes every payday.CONGRESS SPENDS $7 TRILLION.HERE’S HOW THAT MATH WORKS OUT IF YOU THINK OF JUST $100The problem is that those taxes eventually won't generate enough money to pay 100% of scheduled benefits.A couple looks over their Social Security information in light of the system's financial struggles.
(Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)So, let's stop pretending Social Security can't be fixed.It can.
You're just probably not going to like the fix.Here are three changes Washington should seriously consider.In 2026, employees pay 6.2% into Social Security and employers contribute another 6.2%, but the tax stops once wages reach $184,500.SIX DIFFERENT WAYS THAT PROVE THE WEALTHY PAY A LOT MORE THAN THEIR ‘FAIR SHARE’Someone making $100,000 pays Social Security tax on every dollar.
Someone making $1 million doesn't.That's going to become increasingly difficult politically and mathematically to defend.My first suggestion: Raise the Social Security taxable wage ceiling to $400,000.
For somebody earning $400,000, that would expose another $215,500 of wages to Social Security taxes.It also doesn’t make Social Security an infinite tax like Medicare.PROGRESSIVES WANT TO TAX BILLIONAIRES FIRST, AND YOU'RE NEXT ON THE LISTAt today's 12.4% combined employee-employer rate, that's potentially another $26,722 annually flowing into the system from that worker and employer combined.Depending on exactly how Congress structured the change, we're potentially talking about well over $1 trillion of additional revenue over a decade.
Higher earners won't like it.I wouldn't like paying it either.
But Social Security needs revenue.It’s called a compromise.Here's the...