No cap on what is taxed for social security, and ridiculously high salaries/compensation are taxed double, the double portion going to a year end bonus pool to be split among all recipients.
Good point. While cutting benefits is considered the Third Rail of politics it can in fact be done so long as both parties go along so neither side has to take the full brunt of the backlash. Ah the wonderful zero sum world of the Two Party System.
You have convinced me. Making the OASDI taxes progressive would be an improvement. But merely removing the cap wouldn’t completely do the job. Then we would only have a flat tax. Even without marginal rates it would be an improvement I could live with but of course as a good idea it has no chance of being enacted.
A tiny detail for me, but making it possible for non-US-citizens to renew/apply for their US-SS-card while out of the country. Yes, I realize it’s probably not something which would have a large-scale positive economic impact; yes, the reason it can’t be done is probably some combination of assuming that if you’re a foreigner and you need a US-SS-card you’re in the US, and of half-assed security considerations. But given how long it can now take for a foreigner to renew the card, being able to start the process while still abroad would help speed up the whole process (you usually need the card to use it in some other process, for example to show it to your employer or to obtain a driver’s license) and make it easier to comply with related laws and regulations.
Hey, nobody asked to talk exclusively about its budget - I’m up for anything which simplifies/speeds up paperwork.
Nava, I’m here, and it’s taken the SSA six fucking months to replace my card. And counting.
Am I the only one that noticed this? I realize that this board is full of people that hate children and like to steal from the rich, but surely you can’t be so near-sighted as to miss that children = future funders of SS. You’d rather redistribute wealth to layabouts than to the people that are putting in the work of continuing society? How, exactly, does one arrive at such a conclusion?
I don’t think there are many people on this board that like to steal from the rich. Green feathered hat shortage.
Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about… anything that makes the paperwork easier or faster for anybody would be absolutely welcome! It used to be pretty fast (I got my first SS card in two weeks, the first replacement in one), but between complications to the procedures without adding more resources and whatnot, it’s gotten ridiculously slow. The workers are the first ones who’d love to be able to get things done better, but the setup is broken.
You know that gives me a crazy idea. Foreigners are an untapped cash source. Particularly ones about retire. Here me out.
Why not expand Social Security to be kind of an international 401k type thing? Foreign nationals can pay into it, for such and such amount of years. Then when retirement comes they get payed back base on what they put in, and get a visa for retirement in the US.
The “they’re taking our jobs” argument is nonsense of they’re retired. Further they’d be spending savings in the US. It’d be like stimulus, but without the debt.
About the biggest problem I could see would be the huge medical bills old people tend to accumulate.
Take out the retirement payback and that’s not a bad idea. Kind of mercenary, but not bad.
When I responded to you I toyed with some ideas about making it actually progressive, which I agree is a good thing. Perhaps it would make sense for some sort of donut hole between some level of income (the top ten percent) and a really high level (the top 1%) and restore it, perhaps in a progressive way, above that. But I agree that at the moment raising the cap is all we can expect. My proposal has nothing to do with fairness, just political expediency. Fairness would require an actually progressive tax.
It used to be different. When I was in college, we got a Social Security Number and card for our hall lounge. (Named after an old dean.) We had an idea about taking SATs for it, somehow getting a transcript, and getting it admitted to MIT. We never progressed far, but we did get the card - and it took less than six months.
I don’t hate children, I just don’t think that you should get a tax break for adding new costs to the system. In a rational world we would have you pay more taxes. I am surprised that conservatives don’t feel this way, it’s a very libertarian concept. Also, you have committed the sin of the “excluded middle” by making the two choices subsidize the costs of children or give money to layabouts.
Heck, I can’t remember the last time I saw my SS card, let alone needed it for anything. I’m curious why you would need yours and, if you do, how you would have misplaced it 3 times?