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Old 02-16-2005, 02:59 PM   #1
reeds
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Default Bush may raise taxes to bolster SS- I agree with that!!

I will admit it- If Bush does this, I am all for it.... 90k and over income....that group can afford the bump....JMHO




Bush May Raise Taxes for Social Security

1 hour, 54 minutes ago White House - AP


By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - President Bush (news - web sites) says he has not ruled out raising taxes on those who earn more than $90,000 a year to help bolster Social Security (news - web sites)'s finances.


Under the current system, payroll taxes are paid only on the first $90,000 in wages. Bush has repeatedly said that he opposes raising taxes, but his advisers have been intentionally vague about whether he would also rule out subjecting a greater share of pay to the existing tax.

Asked directly, Bush said that he would not rule out raising that cap, though he does not want to see the payroll tax rate go up. The rate is now 12.4 percent of pay, split between workers and employers.

"The one thing I'm not open-minded about is raising the payroll tax rate. And all the other issues go on the table," Bush told a roundtable of regional newspapers, according to an account Wednesday in the New Haven (Conn.) Register.

The story was published as Bush, returning to the road Wednesday to push his campaign for Social Security overhaul, used a populist-style appeal here to sell his idea of personal accounts to independent-minded New Hampshire.

Some have suggested that taxing a greater share of earnings would be a good way to either help bring the system into long-term solvency, or to help pay for the transition to private investment accounts that Bush is pushing.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Bush will consider this option along with many others proposed. "Just because he said it was an option doesn't mean he embraced it," he added. Bush made the comments in the interview on Tuesday.

In his speech Wednesday, the president used his "ownership society" pitch as he appealed to the voters of New Hampshire.

"Investors aren't just Wall Street people, as far as I'm concerned," he told a crowd of roughly 2, 000 people packed into an airport hangar. "I think every citizen, every citizen has got the capacity to manage his or her own money — and if they don't, we'll help them understand how to and the rules will be such that they can."

"I believe the so-called the investor class ought to be every American, regardless of his or her background," Bush added, eliciting cheers from an audience assembled by the state's all-Republican congressional delegation.

With his quick visit here, Bush has now hosted Social Security-focused forums in eight states since his Feb. 2 State of the Union address. The campaign-style event took him to the home turf of GOP Rep. Jeb Bradley (news, bio, voting record), who said during his fist run for Congress in 2002 that "privatization is not the answer" to Social Security's problems.

Though Bush heaped praise on scores of local politicians, from the state's two Republican senators on down, he did not mention Bradley.

"You don't have to worry about your senators. They're people who understand we have got to address the problem," he said, conspicuously omitting Bradley.

On the eve of the president's trip, the Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) called on Bush to release the details of his Social Security proposal.

But the White House has said the aim now is to sell Americans on the idea that there is an immediate problem, even though the system doesn't run out of money for decades, in hopes that they will put pressure on their representatives in Washington — like Bradley — to get behind the plan.

Bush aides say the time for the legislative nitty-gritty of writing bills and negotiating with lawmakers will come after this intense public relations phase.

Bush promised to pound on the issue until Congress goes along.


"I'm going to talk to the American people over and over and over again until the members of Congress recognize we have a problem," he said.

Bush wants to make certain that workers age 55 and over understand that their Social Security benefits will not change under his proposal for private accounts. Political advisers see that as crucial, especially to protect Republicans who fear that Democrats will use their tangling with the popular retirement benefit against them in the 2006 midterm elections.

The president portrayed his plan as both good for the Social Security system and as a crucial step in building ownership for more Americans. But he did not mention that investing in stocks and bonds means workers with private accounts risk seeing their assets shrink, nor did he talk about lower benefits or the enormous transition costs of the accounts, estimated in the trillions of dollars.

He did acknowledge that the private accounts "don't fix the system."

Under estimates prepared by the Social Security Administration (news - web sites), the program's trust funds will begin to pay out more in benefits than they receive in payroll tax revenue beginning in 2018. By 2042, the trust funds will be empty and, under law, benefits will have to start being cut for all beneficiaries as a result.

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Old 02-16-2005, 03:41 PM   #2
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Default RE: Bush may raise taxes to bolster SS- I agree with that!!

Quote:
He did acknowledge that the private accounts "don't fix the system."
I don't think anyone tried to sell private accounts as "fixing" the current system. It is, however, a better alternative for the American worker.

And reeds, I am glad to see you take this stance. Shocked really, but proud nonetheless. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
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Old 02-16-2005, 04:34 PM   #3
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Default RE:Bush may raise taxes to bolster SS- I agree with that!!

Quote:
Originally posted by: u2sarajevo
Quote:
He did acknowledge that the private accounts "don't fix the system."
I don't think anyone tried to sell private accounts as "fixing" the current system. It is, however, a better alternative for the American worker.

And reeds, I am glad to see you take this stance. Shocked really, but proud nonetheless. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
U2, Bush IS selling private accounts as a "fix". here's the quote from Bush's State of the Union speech:

As we fix Social Security, we also have the responsibility to make the system a better deal for younger workers. And the best way to reach that goal is through voluntary personal retirement accounts
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Old 02-16-2005, 04:43 PM   #4
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Default RE:Bush may raise taxes to bolster SS- I agree with that!!

Quote:
Originally posted by: Mavdog
Quote:
Originally posted by: u2sarajevo
Quote:
He did acknowledge that the private accounts "don't fix the system."
I don't think anyone tried to sell private accounts as "fixing" the current system. It is, however, a better alternative for the American worker.

And reeds, I am glad to see you take this stance. Shocked really, but proud nonetheless. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
U2, Bush IS selling private accounts as a "fix". here's the quote from Bush's State of the Union speech:

As we fix Social Security, we also have the responsibility to make the system a better deal for younger workers. And the best way to reach that goal is through voluntary personal retirement accounts
In that section, the goal is "to make the system a better deal for younger workers." And I think Bush is saying that "voluntary personal retirement accounts" is "the best way to reach that goal."

I agree that the notion that capping the money taxed at $90,000.00 is arbitrary, without going into discussions of income, I would be fundamentally opposed to any system that forces me to pay more into a system that I would not receive a benefit from. We talk about keeping the promises made to older generations, but what about the promises made to each young worker as money is taken out of their paycheck every week when there is no evidence that the money will be there when those younger workers retire?

It is a fair question.
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Old 02-16-2005, 04:50 PM   #5
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Default RE:Bush may raise taxes to bolster SS- I agree with that!!

Quote:
Originally posted by: Mavdog
U2, Bush IS selling private accounts as a "fix". here's the quote from Bush's State of the Union speech:

As we fix Social Security, we also have the responsibility to make the system a better deal for younger workers. And the best way to reach that goal is through voluntary personal retirement accounts
No where in that quote is he saying that private accounts are a "fix". He states that "voluntary personal retirement accounts" are a better deal for younger workers.

This tax proposal is a "fix" for the impending bankruptcy of SS. The private accounts are a means to improve the system for the younger workers in America.
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Old 02-16-2005, 06:46 PM   #6
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Default RE: Bush may raise taxes to bolster SS- I agree with that!!

ignore the word "fix" immediately prior to "Social Security if you wish. Bush is seeking to "fix" SS, and personal retirement accounts are the main plank in that mission, what else did he push?

His admission today that it will not fix it is honest on his part. Now he just needs to understand the enormous costs associated with that proposal.

Raising the cutoff above $90K makes a great deal of sense. Of course, those are also the best demographic for the "voluntary personal retirement account" people...
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