Four senior senators express alarm, push for 'hard' Social Security votes

[DFW]

4. I think the obvious solution is to not be simple

Find a solution that at least will not lead to capital flight. Maybe raise the cap drastically and lower the rate a little to make it easier on people with modest income, and make the tax bite appear to be less painful to those whose taxes will go up by telling them, “but we lowered your tax rate!”

As it is, I pay 50% of what I receive to the German government (no 15% exclusion if you live overseas), and pay another $10,000 in SS taxes to Washington, since I still work full time. I get to keep a little under a third of my payout. Maybe they could restructure that, too. It’s pointless to send me a certain sum every month when over two thirds of it just goes back to governments. If they raise the cap 100%, I’ll net close to zero, and if they triple it, I’m net negative, and it’s not like I make a half million dollar salary.

Make a reform sensible and palatable to all citizens, and they might even get somewhere. A blanket “tax the rich” is no more useful a slogan than “don’t tax anybody.” Specifics and cooler heads are needed here, and I like the idea of it being addressed by Senators who are invulnerable to attacks by an opponent in an election. The downside is they don’t have a lot of time to make progress. If they are serious about this, they shouldn’t be looking forward to many weekends off in the near future. I hope they get a lot of discreet help from other Senators who are not concerned with having their names on the bill, so they can’t be the target of Fox-engineered attacks on the air.