Begich to introduce Social Security changes w/o age raise or benefits cut

[Torie]

I don't like it. I don't like having a higher tax on earned income than unearned income, and lifting the cap is just an income tax, that has nothing to do with the benefits received. If you want to have general revenues subsidize SS, just do it by raising income taxes in general on a progressive basis.

A cost of living adjustment that gets into the cost of medical care, when most of it is subsidized for elderly, seems a mistake too. I prefer the chained CPI fix, counting as taxable income a higher percentage of the benefits, and maybe cutting them back on a means tested basis if necessary to make the program solvent.

[Torie]

I don't like it. I don't like having a higher tax on earned income than unearned income, and lifting the cap is just an income tax, that has nothing to do with the benefits received. If you want to have general revenues subsidize SS, just do it by raising income taxes in general on a progressive basis.

Apparently under Begich's plan the cap on benefits would also be removed (If I'm reading it correctly?). So the pay-in is still vaguely tied to benefits, though I'm not sure what value removing the cap adds if the cap on benefits is eliminated.

Agree that focusing on taxing earned income is problematic, though.

So if one makes 10 million a year, for 30 years, you get 25K a month in benefits or something when you retire?  Makes sense to me!    And what is this supposed to accomplish?  Just masking what is effectively an income tax with a blizzard of money moving out of one pocket and into your other pocket over time, so you need an economist facile with present value calculations to figure out the effective tax rate?