By Mike Killalea, NSD president
Happy Millionaires Day, everyone! I am sure that all our readers are celebrating the March 6 end of paying Social Security Taxes for 2025 on March 6!
Oh, you aren’t celebrating? Gee.
Well, March 6 marks the date when million-dollar wage earners stopped paying into Social Security for 2025. That was 15 minutes of earnings for Elon Musk.
Meanwhile, most everyone else take all year to reach the $176,100 income tax ceiling for Social Security payroll taxes.
Meanwhile (squared), president musk is also launching false attacks on Social Security. A few weeks ago he caused a stir by claiming that millions of dead people were receiving Social Security benefits – an absurd claim that has been repeatedly amplified by the orange felon.
More recently he called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” – which is equally absurd. Social Security benefits do depend on working people paying in each year, but this is true of all government spending.
People are willing to buy and hold US government bonds because they know that the economy is strong and people will keep paying taxes they owe.
It’s surprising, then, that Musk doesn't call US government bonds a Ponzi scheme. Saying it doesn’t make it so.
If we do nothing, Social Security will be able to pay the vast majority of benefits for the indefinite future. There is, however, a modest shortfall in funds to keep the Social Security Trust Fund going.
It is important to bolster this program: Most elderly beneficiaries (65 percent) rely on Social Security for the majority of their income, and close to half of the elderly would be poor without Social Security.
The solution is simple: If we apply the payroll tax to all of the income of Musk and other ultra-wealthy, we can pay full scheduled benefits indefinitely. Scrapping the payroll tax cap to make every earner pay the same tax rate, along with modest changes to the program, could eliminate the shortfall and allow for crucial expansions to benefits.
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