Social Security is a great equalizer. It lifts the floor for economic security, making sure that no one who retires has to retire into poverty. But the ultra-wealthy keep pushing to dismantle Social Security and Medicare, leaving seniors on the street so that more money can go into their own pockets. Forbes just released its annual ranking of the world’s richest people, and discovered 141 new billionaires:1
“It’s been an amazing year for the world’s richest people, with more billionaires around the world than ever before,” said Chase Peterson-Withorn, Forbes’ wealth editor. “A record-breaking 14 centibillionaires [$100bn] have 12-figure fortunes. Even during times of financial uncertainty for many, the super-rich continue to thrive.”
The ultra-rich are betting big on Trump to return to the White House.(PHOTO BY SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES)
There are many issues on the line this election year but one that gets little attention is former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax reform law that cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanently reduced the tax rate for big corporations from an already-low 35 percent to a ridiculously minuscule 21percent. It also lowered tax rates for the wealthiest people from nearly 40percent to 37 percent. Several provisions of that law are set to expire in 2025, making this November’s Congressional and Presidential elections particularly critical to issues of economic fairness and justice.
A few months after Trump signed the bill, he boasted, “We have the biggest tax cut in history, bigger than the Reagan tax cut. Bigger than any tax cut.” It became a common refrain for him when touting his achievements. But, Trump, who was known for breaking all records on lying to the public while in office, conflated many different facts to come up with a positive-sounding falsehood in a nation already primed by the likes of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton to view taxation as anathema. Trump’s tax cuts as a whole were the eighth largest in history. But his corporate tax cut was in fact the single largest reduction ever in that category.
Wealthy corporations have for years lobbied for and won so many carve-outs and loopholes to the U.S. tax system, and hidden so much money in offshore tax havens that their pre-2017 effective tax rates were already far lower than the official rates. Then, Trump lowered them even more. Imagine telling the American public that you are responsible specifically for the biggest tax cuts to the biggest corporations in U.S. history. It wasn’t a good look. And so, he lied, saying that he signed history’s biggest tax cut overall.
SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKEND NEWSLETTER
In the simplest terms, taxes are a way to pool collective resources so we can have the things we all need for safety and security. Progressive taxation is when wealthier individuals (and corporations) are taxed at higher-than-average rates because the richer one is, the less excess money one needs beyond one’s basic necessities. Progressive taxation ensures that wealth inequality doesn’t spiral out of control and helps ensure money that’s being sucked upwards gets redistributed downward. When wealthy elites pay fewer taxes, they are effectively stealing from the public.
Since the cuts have been in place, many studies have attempted to assess their impact on the U.S. economy. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concluded in a March 2024 report that “[t]ogether with the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts enacted under President Bush (most of which were made permanent in 2012), [Trump’s] law has severely eroded our country’s revenue base.”
Trump’s law accelerated the draining of our collective revenues to fund the things we need. Even the fiscally conservative Peter G. Peterson Foundation concluded that, as a result of Trump’s law, “The United States collects fewer revenues from corporations, relative to the size of the economy, than most other advanced countries.”
Trump’s tax cuts were quite literally regressive, rewarding the already rich. A 2021ProPublica report found that just one last-minute provision to the bill demanded by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) for so-called pass-through corporations benefited a handful of the wealthiest people in the nation: “just 82 ultrawealthy households collectively walked away with more than $1 billion in total savings, an analysis of confidential tax records shows.” It only cost about $20 million in bribes to Johnson (i.e., donations to the Senator’s reelection campaign) to enact this windfall.
It’s unsurprising that wealthy elites are backing a second term for Trump. They want an extension of those tax bill provisions that are expiring in 2025, and perhaps an even bigger tax cut, if they can get it.
It’s no wonder that the rich were thrilled with Trump’s presidency and that his virulent white supremacy and fascist leanings were not deal breakers.
It’s also unsurprising that wealthy elites are backing a second term for Trump. They want an extension of those tax bill provisions that are expiring in 2025, and perhaps an even bigger tax cut, if they can get it. If those provisions are left to expire, people making more than $400,000 a year — the top 2 percentof earners — will see an increase in taxation in 2025.
This is a demographic that is already prone to tax cheating given the IRS’s recent announcement that 125,000 Americans making between $400,000and $1 million a year have simply refused to file taxes since 2017.
If the GOP wins control of the Senate and the House of Representatives this fall, and if Trump beats President Joe Biden, those cuts will become permanent. A GOP sweep in November will also usher in a new wave of threats to people of color, LGBTQ people, especially transgender communities, labor rights, and reproductive justice, as well as an escalation to the already-dire Israeli genocide in Gaza that Biden is fueling. It’s hard to believe but many Americans seem to have forgotten the horrors of 2016to 2020.
But, at its heart, this election will be about money, for it will take a lot of money to fund the GOP’s reelection campaigns in order for moneyed forces to ensure they retain control of more money — democracy, justice, and equity be damned.
For Trump, this is even more important given his legal challenges. He’s relying on small-dollar donations from his base to cover his mounting legal fees and has had to post a $91 million bond to cover the fines he faces from a defamation lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll. The more desperate Trump gets in his bid to secure the White House, the more willing he and his party will be to sell the nation to the highest bidder. And, he will lie to the public by conflating tax cuts for the rich with tax cuts for all.
We ought to think of tax cuts in terms of public revenue theft. When the wealthy win lower taxes, they are stealing money from the American public as a whole. As per the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, permanently extending Trump’s tax cuts will result in a loss of $3.5 trillion in revenues through the year 2033. That’s highway robbery.
This article was produced via Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.
Republicans in the House of Representatives are preparing a vote on the Orwellian-ly namedFair Tax Act, which would eliminate Social Security and Medicare’s dedicated funding, abolish the IRS, and levy a 30% sales tax on everything.
This proposal is bad bad bad bad bad. Let me count the ways:
Replacing federal income, corporate, and property taxes shifts the tax burden away from the wealthy to people who actually have to spend all of their money―especially seniors. With rising prices all over, the last thing seniors need is to pay an extra 30% on everything they buy.
Abolishing Social Security and Medicare’s dedicated funding would bring us one step closer to Wall Street’s goal of destroying Social Security and Medicare. As FDR said of the dedicated funding: “We put those pay roll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and their unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program.”
The proposal calls on the Social Security Administration to figure out how much income it would have collected from payroll contributions, but provides the Social Security Administration no additional funding to effectively replace the IRS as a clearing-house of employment and wage data.
This bill is an attack on our Social Security system and a huge handout to millionaires and billionaires. It’s just the latest stage of the Republican war on seniors.
Social Security is one of the most popular and successful government programs in the history of our country. For more than 80 years, through good times and bad, Social Security has paid out every benefit owed to every eligible American on time and without delay.
In 2021, Social Security lifted 26.3 million Americans out of poverty, including more than 18 million seniors. Before it was created in 1935, about half of our nation’s seniors were living in poverty. Today, the senior poverty rate is 10.3 percent.
Yet, despite this success, tens of millions of seniors and 25 percent of people with disabilities are still struggling to get by, and many older workers fear that they will never be able to retire with security and dignity.
The most recent evidence indicates that nearly 40 percent of seniors rely on Social Security for a majority of their income and one in every seven seniors rely on it for more than 90 percent of their income. And to make matters worse, nearly half of Americans age 55 and older have no retirement savings. Meanwhile, the average Social Security benefit is only $1,688 a month.
Social Security is not going broke. Social Security has a $2.85 trillion surplus in its trust fund and can pay every promised benefit to every eligible American until the year 2035. After that, the Social Security Administration estimates that there will be enough funding available to pay 80 percent of promised benefits.
Private health insurance corporations are reaching into the Medicare trust fund and helping themselves to boatloads of our cash―and trying to bankrupt Medicare in the process!
When seniors retire, they have a choice between traditional Medicare, which guarantees health care, or insurance-run Medicare Advantage plans, which tempt seniors with lowered premiums and dental coverage, then turn around and deny necessary health coverage in pursuit of profit!
The Social Security Board of Trustees has just released its annual report to Congress. And with the report comes the expected headlines predicting doom for our Social Security system. Thankfully, these headlines couldn’t be further from the truth. Social Security is in strong financial shape.
These scary headlines are the product of a decades-long, billionaire-funded, campaign to undermine confidence in Social Security.
The just-released Trustees Report shows that Social Security has an accumulated surplus of roughly $2.9 trillion. It further shows that at the end of the century, it will cost just 6.07% of GDP. That is a considerably smaller percentage of GDP than Germany, Austria, France and most other industrialized countries spend on their retirement, survivors and disability programs.
Unsurprisingly, because Social Security’s income and outgo are projected out so far—three quarters of a century—the Report projects a modest shortfall. (This is a much longer projection period than private pensions use and even more than most other countries use for their Social Security programs.)
According to the new report, Social Security is 100% funded for the next sixteen years, 93% funded for the next 25 years, 87% funded over the next 50 years and 84% funded for the next three-quarters of a century. There is no question that Congress can raise enough revenue to eliminate the projected shortfall. Indeed, we can afford to expand Social Security.
That brings us to the second misreporting we are likely to see. Along with that modest, unsurprising shortfall being the cause for breathless media reports about supposed collapse, the report was greeted with lamentations from many observers that Congress has no plan to address Social Security’s projected shortfall. That is incorrect.
Democrats have specific concrete plans that they stand behind. They plan not just to ensure that all promised benefits will be paid in full and on time for the foreseeable future, but to address our nation’s retirement income crisis by increasing Social Security’s modest benefits.
It is only Congressional Republicans who have no plans—at least that they are willing to publicly embrace. That is perhaps because (given that they reject requiring the wealthiest to pay more) their preferred “solutions” involve benefit cuts, which are overwhelmingly opposed by voters across the political spectrum, including Tea Partiers and the most conservative Republicans.
Democrats are moving forward with their plans. The Social Security 2100 Act, introduced by Rep. John Larson (D-CT), is one such bill. It has 203 cosponsors in the House of Representatives—over 85% of all Democratic representatives. Larson has held several hearings on the bill and intends to bring it to the House floor this spring.
Several other bills to protect and expand Social Security benefits have been introduced in the House and Senate, andnearly every 2020 presidential candidate serving in Congress is a member of the bicameral Expand Social Security Caucus.
Again, it is Republican politicians who have no plans that they are willing to stand behind. Not a single Republican this Congress has cosponsored any of the Social Security bills introduced by Democrats nor introduced one of their own.
Notwithstanding that none of the bills have Republican cosponsors, they are totally bipartisan—at least, by the measure that matters most. As divided as the American people are over many issues, we are not divided about our deep support for Social Security.
Just last month, on March 21, the Pew Research Center released a poll showing that 68% of those identified as Republican/Lean Republican believe that Congress should make no cuts to Social Security whatsoever. A year ago, in the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections, Public Policy Polling found that 56% of those who voted for Donald Trump and 55% of those who identify as Republican would be more likely to vote for a candidate who “supported expanding and increasing Social Security.”
Furthermore, a 2014 National Academy of Social Insurance survey found that 80% of Republicans believe that Social Security is more important than ever; 72% of Republicans responded that they “don’t/didn’t mind paying Social Security taxes;” and 65% of Republicans agreed that “we should consider increasing Social Security benefits.” You wouldn’t know the truth if you’re just listening to the corporate media.
And this bipartisan, consensus view of the American people is the right one. Social Security is a solution. It is a solution to our looming retirement income crisis, which threatens the retirement of so many of today’s working families. Social Security is a solution to the increasing economic squeeze on middle-class families, a squeeze which jeopardizes the economic security of all generations. And Social Security is a solution to the destabilizing and immoral income and wealth inequality, which has resulted in a handful of Americans richer than Midas, while most Americans find their economic security crumbling.
In light of these challenges and Social Security’s important role in addressing them, Democratic leaders—and the American people—are asking the right question: Not how can we afford Social Security, but, rather, how can we afford not to expand it?
Republican politicians are standing in the way. For those for whom Social Security provides basic economic security now or promises to do so in the future—that is, virtually all of us—what we must do is clear. In 2020, we must make our voices heard. Those office seekers who support expanding Social Security and restoring it to long-range actuarial balance must be voted into office. Those who don’t should be retired. Fortunately for them (and thanks to the rest of us) they will have their Social Security to fall back on.
Thank you,
Nancy Altman President and co-founder Social Security Works
Donald Trump ran on a promise to protect our earned benefits. And yet, each budget proposal released by his administration reads more like a Tea Party wish list written by his Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney: Massive cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- all to pay for Trump’s tax scam for the rich and corporations.
Today, the Social Security Trustees released their annual report, and instead of the need to cut our earned benefits, the report shows that when millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share, we can afford to EXPAND Social Security benefits for millions of Americans.
Social Security has a large surplus―projected to reach roughly $2.9 trillion next year;
Social Security continues to be extremely affordable with less than one penny of every dollar spent on administrative costs (this is a fraction of what other industrialized countries pay for similar programs);
Social Security can pay out ALL benefits owed for the next 16 years―until 2035―at which point it can still pay 80% of benefits owed.
All we need is for millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share and we can extend the lifespan of the trust fund and expand benefits for millions of Americans.
The measure, which would expand benefits for current and future recipients, would extend the program’s solvency for 75 years, according to Social Security’s Office of the Chief Actuary.
To help fund the proposed changes, earnings above $400,000 would be subject to Social Security taxes. In 2019, earnings above $132,900 are not subject to the levy.
The payroll tax also would gradually rise to 14.8 percent from the current 12.4 percent by 2043, with workers and their employers splitting that tax as they already do.
As Social Security’s funding problems loom ever closer on the horizon, the program has emerged as a pet project on many lawmakers’ fix-it list.
Now in control of the House, Democrats have thrown their weight behind a measure that would extend and expand the program — largely by asking high earners to pony up, along with a gradual increase in the Social Security tax rate that applies to workers’ income.
House Speaker Paul Ryan’s (R-Wisc.) announced this week that he will not run for re-election later this year, bringing down the curtain on his long career of antagonism toward the plight of the nation’s poor and disadvantaged people.
Though Ryan’s public persona has been characterized, off-and-on, as something of a serious and deep thinkeron issues related to poverty, taxation, and welfare policy, his record — and now legacy — in public life is one of consistent cruelty. For the entirety of his nearly 20-year career in the House and, especially, since holding the Speaker’s gavel since 2016, Ryan’s single-minded purpose in governance has been to seek and destroy federal support for the poor.
Ryan came to Congress in 1998, pledging to bring discipline and reform to Social Security and other federal welfare programs that he’s hated since his college days.
Ironically, Ryan owes, in great part, his personal and political success to the Social Security payment he and his family received following his 55-year-old father’s death, when Ryan was 16 years old. In other words, the welfare-cutting Speaker got his start in life by earning a B.A. in economics and political science at the Miami University of Ohio, with money provided by his late father’s welfare payments.
In 2014, Ryan displayed his callous disregard for the suffering of poor and hungry Americans when he argued against progressive budget proposals that urged giving low-income students free lunches. “The left is making a big mistake here,” Ryan said in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.“What they’re offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul.”
Ryan was the architect of the House’s failed Trumpcare plan, which would have destroyed Medicaid and devastated Medicare, and his early career was marked by a series of “roadmaps” that turned guaranteed benefits into inadequate vouchers. Americans are undoubtedly better off without him in Congress.
But Paul Ryan is not the only threat to Social Security and Medicare. Republicans in Congress have shown that they are unified in their aim to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires at the expense of working and middle class economic security.
Ryan’s House will still vote this week on the so-called Balanced Budget Amendment, which would force cuts to these vital programs, while making it nearly impossible to increase revenues. It is a recipe to starve every program that Americans rely on--and Republicans plan to vote for it overwhelmingly. The problem is much deeper than just Paul Ryan.
Tell Congress:
"We demand that Congress reject their “balanced budget amendment” that threatens Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs Americans count on."
For 20 years, since first being elected to Congress, Paul Ryan’s goal has been to destroy Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and slash taxes on the rich and wealthy corporations.
Now, in the wake of the GOP tax scam, which hands massive tax breaks to the richest 1% and multinational corporations, Republicans in the House are preparing to introduce a “balanced budget amendment.”
Such an amendment would force automatic cuts to our earned benefits and other critical programs for working families and older Americans. It would jeopardize our retirement security and the security of veterans, people with disabilities, children and surviving spouses.
When Donald Trump signed into law his $1.5 trillion tax scam, we knew what was coming next: An all-out assault on our earned benefits.
Today, Donald Trump released his fiscal year 2019 budget, which includes $1.3 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, $554 billion in cuts to Medicare and $10 billion in cuts to Social Security. Not to mention that they’re taking another crack at repealing the Affordable Care Act.
We always knew that Republicans in Washington would use the Trump tax scam as an excuse to turn around and attempt to cut our earned benefits.
This is just another example of Donald Trump saying one thing on the campaign trail and then turning around and letting his right-wing cabinet―including his Budget Director and Tea Party darling Mick Mulvaney―do another. And with Republicans controlling both bodies of Congress, this is going to be an all-out fight for the future of our earned benefits.
If there’s one takeaway from Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address, it’s that he’s just another Republican. Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell … Donald Trump.
Throughout the 2016 campaign, Trump claimed that he’d defend Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But in his first year in office he, Paul Ryan and Congressional Republicans have attempted to destroy Medicare and Medicaid. And now they’re threatening to pass a budget that will slash $492 million from the Social Security Administration―undermining the most successful social insurance program in our country’s history.
In a new op-ed, Robert Reich says:
"Fresh off passing massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, Trump and congressional Republicans want to use the deficit they’ve created to justify huge cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid."
Since its inception, Wall Street has wanted to get its hands on Social Security. The financial industry has tried to cut and privatize our earned benefits and sow a seed of doubt about Social Security’s future―even though Social Security has built up a $2.8 trillion trust fund, can pay out 100% of benefits owed for the next 17 years and 77% of benefits after that.
Now, in a cynical attempt to undermine public confidence in the program, Senate Republicans are proposing a $492 million cut to the Social Security Administration―a move that will make it more difficult for the American people to access our heard-earned benefits.
And they’re including it in the must-pass federal budget being voted on next week!
These proposed cuts are on top of the billions in cuts the SSA has already experienced this decade―resulting in longer wait times at Social Security offices, long hold times when calling Social Security, and delays in millions of claims by retirees, surviving spouses and people with disabilities.
After years of trying and failing to dismantle our Social Security system through benefit cuts, this is the new front in the battle for Social Security. By withholding funding, Congress is making it more difficult for us to access the system we’ve paid into our entire lives.
