Obama has a plan to preserve the Social Security fund without raising the retirement age or cutting program benefits. His notion? To impose a Social Security tax increase and create a a “doughnut hole” where earnings between $102,000 and $250,000 are exempt from additional taxes.
The plan, of course, contains several flaws, not the least of which is an incentive for employers to cap salaries at $249,999.99 to avoid paying an additional 6.2% in payroll taxes, as Kim.
So why not adopt her plan which not only doubles the pool of payroll taxes to fund Social Security but gives both workers and small businesses a break in the process?
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Thursday, July 3rd, 2008, 8:01 am | 
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July 3, 2008 at 8:21 am
Hi. I came here from your link on twitter.
Concerning doughnuts … though I’m from Austria I know this saying:
“If you want to be a happy soul,
keep your eyes upon the doughnut,
and not upon the hole”.
It’s up to you to apply these words
to the current social security debates.
wilbaus last blog post..Soccer Malawi Egypt World Cup
July 3, 2008 at 11:11 am
Hi Kate long time. Well.. there really isn’t any
But as to
good plan for social security short of shooting
all the old coots now while we can
the link you gave – ‘doubling the pool of cash’
sounds nice but.. how many people are actually in
that income bracket? Without detailed income stats
infront of me I can’s say for sure, but I suspect
cutting the lower brackets and doing as proposed to
all pay up to a new higher limit will result in less
not more. As to the argument why would anyone want
to make more than 249,999.99 well.. because you are
still keeping most of that money? But I do agree
that around that level there will be shenanigans to
try to avoid/minimize the tax but nobody would turn
down 300K because they will have to pay 10k more in
FICA. We might grumble a bit but earning over 300K
a year one shouldn’t be grumbling too much!
mikes last blog post..Senator Kyl On Our Nuclear Deterrent
July 3, 2008 at 2:46 pm
As someone who’s self-employed, I love Kimsch’s idea a helluva lot more than Obama’s.
Margis last blog post..Music Meme
July 4, 2008 at 2:11 am
When Obama gets in there we will be paying out our @ss in taxes
July 5, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Why cap it at 250,000 why not tax it to the last possible cent. Then because the Supreme Court has ruled the public has no legal right to social security the government can stiff everyone.
I love Obama. He’s so smart. He part part the oceans. He can bring people together. He can create hope.
And here’s hoping Americans aren’t so dull that they can see a slyster when they offer snakeoil like this.
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July 4, 2008 at 3:00 pm