By Gwen Furmanek
Assistant Opinion Editor
Social Security has been part of the United States’ federal budget since 1935, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt began the government’s biggest entitlement plan in history.
The “Baby Boomer” generation has reached the age needed to collect Social Security benefits. With the mass amounts of people who are now eligible to receive Social Security, the sad truth is younger generations may not see Social Security as part of their retirement income. According to a Feb. 8 Daily Finance article, the collapse date for Social Security is projected to be in the year 2032 or perhaps even sooner.
Most politicians won’t touch the Social Security because people don’t like change and are afraid of what could happen. Guess what? If we don’t make changes now, there will be no Social Security for anyone in the coming decades.
President Obama needs to push Social Security reform through Congress. Think about it: he doesn’t have to worry about getting re-elected, and therefore he can work on topics that usually push voters’ approval away. If Obama wants to make a legacy for himself and prove to the world that he can do great things as the first African-American president, he needs to get this legislation going. If he does, he will always be remembered as the president who saved Social Security.
Think of Social Security as a bucket. Money is dripping in from a spigot at one end and at the other is a gaping hole where money gushes out faster than it can be put in. It is a never-ending battle that will not soon be changed unless amends are made. The bucket will drain dry before our eyes.
So what can we do to fix it? It would have to be a combination of policies.
“The maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security taxes will be $113,700 in 2013, up from $110,100 in 2012,” according to an Oct. 16, 2012 U.S. News and World Report article.
I think most millionaires can handle a bit more than that. If they did pay more in taxes, it could improve the Social Security deficit by millions. Raise the income tax cap, more formally known as “taxable income,” higher. While it has been increasing in past years, if we capped it off at $115,000, it would benefit the Social Security fund tremendously.
According to the Post article, after many polls taken by the public on the issue of the income cap, the American people want the government to get rid of the cap completely.
The government is always all-too-eager to fall back on raising taxes. If we increase the Federal Insurance Contributions Act or FICA, that extra tax money can go toward helping the Social Security budget. We should raise it for higher income families, maybe making $175,000 or more.
While Social Security has already started raising the age for benefits, it needs to be raised a smidgen more. The retirement age for full benefits for individuals born in 1960 or later is 67, according to a fact sheet on the Social Security website.
If we increase the retirement age to 69 for full benefits, it will ease the expedient flow of money being drawn from the Social Security budget.
These changes are going to be difficult sacrifices, but in the long run, they will save Social Security.
Act now. The sooner this reform passes, the easier it will be, and the better chances we have of saving Social Security for generations to come.
