- Bernie Sanders met with Joe Biden to propose a tax on high-income Americans to fund Social Security, The Washington Post reported.
- The current system taxes the first $160,200 of workers’ earnings, and many Democrats have called for changing that cap as the Social Security trust fund faces insolvency.
- Biden had previously considered raising income taxes on high earners to keep Social Security afloat.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has raised concerns about Social Security in the White House — and it appears the administration is listening.
This is according to Jeff Stein of the Washington Post, who reported On Thursday, Sanders had a private meeting with President Joe Biden regarding the retirement program. According to the Post, Biden aides recently discussed a possible payroll tax hike on the wealthy, similar to Sanders’ plans.
Sanders advocated for Biden to increase payroll taxes on high-income Americans to fund Social Security for 70 more years as a program addresses insolvency in the next decade. Sanders’ proposal would raise the cap on income subject to payroll taxes that pay Social Security. Currently, the first workers $160,200 in revenue are taxed; all income beyond that is not taxed.
Under a proposal from Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats, that cap would be lifted and incomes over $250,000 would be subject to payroll taxes. They reintroduced this legislation this month, showing that some Democrats are reacting to a potential new republican push for cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
According to a White House official, the White House hasn’t approved any specific bills — but the president welcomes proposals from members of Congress on how to keep Social Security solvent and make the program even bigger. solid.
The idea of an expanded payroll tax to bolster Social Security is not new to President Biden. During his campaign, Biden proposed raising payroll taxes for those earning more than $400,000 a year, which the Tax Policy Center estimated would raise $740 billion over ten years.
“The biggest threats to Social Security and Medicare are House and Senate Republican efforts to gut a program that millions of Americans have paid into since their first job as teenagers,” Robyn said. Patterson, a White House spokesman, in a statement to Insider, noting that the president has promised to maintain Medicare solvency and “will not budge” on paying every penny of benefits.
“We look forward to Republicans sharing their plan with the American people as well, as they have promised to pass a budget this year,” Patterson added.
Although Social Security and Medicare have been the scene of partisan wars for decades, 2023 is shaping up to be a particularly hot year because some republicans are stepping up their push for cuts after regaining control of the House of Representatives.
Reports to show that GOP lawmakers are willing to use the debt ceiling as a bargaining chip to get the Biden administration to cave on spending cuts, potentially including changes to health insurance and security social; failing to raise the debt ceiling by the summer could cause the United States to default on its debt for the first time in history, with disastrous consequences.
Sanders and Warren have been outspoken about federal retirement programs in recent months.
“At a time when half of older Americans have no retirement savings and 55% of seniors are trying to survive on less than $25,000 a year, our job is not to cut Social Security or cut Social Security. ‘raise taxes on workers,’ Sanders said. writing on Twitter last month. “Our job is to expand it so that all seniors can live with the dignity they deserve.”