Elected embezzlers (raiders of the Social Security Trust Fund)

[MH1]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07028/757141-109.stm

Elected embezzlers

JEFFREY R. LEWIS says Congress should stop stealing from Social Security and fix it - or give us back our money

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Sen. Pat Moynihan, D-N.Y., liked to call it "thievery." Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., called it deceit. My old boss, Pennsylvania Sen. John Heinz called it "embezzlement." To which felonious act was this bipartisan cast of senior senators referring? To Congress raiding the Social Security Trust Fund -- meant to fund our retirements decades from now -- so that it could hide trillions of dollars in government spending.

(snip)

When it comes to keeping our commitments to seniors and taxpayers, members of Congress need to ask themselves: Can 2007 be the year the pilferage finally stops? Do we have the will to stop looking for quick fixes like personal retirement accounts and make the real changes Social Security needs? Shouldn't the system be fairer to women? And, finally, if we can't do these things, shouldn't we just repeal that portion of our Social Security taxes that are being pilfered -- and give the money back to the American people?

(snip)

Speaking of a "plan" introduced by Jeff Sessions, Lewis notes:

It sounds reasonable, at first. But, just as there's no free lunch, there's no free retirement. Certain to cost tens of billions of dollars initially, the Sessions plan could easily run into hundreds of billions of dollars over the next few decades. Yet, Sen. Sessions has offered no funding plan, no recognition of our other commitments and no acknowledgement of the budget shortfalls the existing system faces.

But the plan does raise a curious question: If we can find common ground to raise payroll withholding taxes to fund new personal accounts, why can't we do so to shore up Social Security? Surely we should fix one system before we create another.

Yes, Sessions' plan would require funding, which means raising taxes, presumably payroll taxes as Lewis states.

At first read, I didn't like Lewis' emphatic suggestion that taxes should be refunded if Congress can't agree on a way to fix Social Security. I think republicans would be all too eager to jump on that suggestion. OTOH, I think he is just saying that it would make more sense than Sessions' plan. And THAT I agree with wholeheartedly.


Jeffrey R. Lewis is President of the http://www.hfp.heinz.org/index.html">Heinz Family Philanthropies (Teresa Heinz Kerry is Chairman.)

[rfranklin]

1. Since our SS funds were raided to pay for the military....

which is used to further the interests of international corporations and the top one-tenth of one percent of Americans I can tell you exactly who should be dunned for repayment.

[MH1]

2. Yep.

Never happen, though.

OTOH, I'd be perfectly happy if they shifted the earnings range subject to the FICA tax. So that those on the bottom wouldn't pay as much and those currently earning over the cap would pay up to a higher cap.