Defund Social Security

[Fogdog]

Republicans are holding unemployed people hostage in order to get another tax cut.

Trump payroll tax cut would come at a time when Social Security is already facing trouble

President Trump's proposed payroll tax cut would boost the economy, but would slash the primary source of funding for Social Security.

www.usatoday.com

"Payroll taxes". Sounds like a bad thing. Who wants tax on payrolls?

What is a Payroll Tax?

Payroll taxes are taxes paid on the wages and salaries of employees to finance social insurance programs like Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance.

taxfoundation.org

What are Payroll Taxes?
Put simply, payroll taxes are taxes paid on the wages and salaries of employees. These taxes are used to finance social insurance programs, such as Social Security and Medicare. According to recent Tax Foundation research, these social insurance taxes make up 23.05 percent of combined federal, state, and local government revenue – the second largest source of government revenue in the United States.

By hook or by crook, Trump's Republicans are going after funding for Social Security. They started his term with this issue and are making one last try to eliminate social security as we know it. As usual, this "tax cut" mostly favors the wealthy. I know, I didn't need to say that.

 

[Dr.Amber Trichome]

The pay roll tax is a punch in the gut and a real sneaky way to fuck over hard working people. I am glad you posted this because I was wondering what the payroll tax was. Now I see And understand how much this fucks us over and takes even more money out of our paycheckS. If Trump gets it passed hopefully when Biden gets into office he will revert it along with a lot of other stuff and get rid of Moscow Mitch as well . He is standing in the way of hazzard pay for essential workers.

 

[Fogdog]

The pay roll tax is a punch in the gut and a real sneaky way to fuck over hard working people. I am glad you posted this because I was wondering what the payroll tax was. Now I see And understand how much this fucks us over and takes even more money out of our paycheckS. If Trump gets it passed hopefully when Biden gets into office he will revert it along with a lot of other stuff and get rid of Moscow Mitch as well . He is standing in the way of hazzard pay for essential workers.

Republicans are working to eliminate legal recourse for people harmed by Covid-19. Then they turn around and prevent hazard pay for essential workers who literally HAVE to go to work because they will not collect unemployment benefits if they quit. Meanwhile they work to cut funding for Social Security. Then they send their goons go into the cities to do crowd control (bust heads, kidnapping).

It's going to be a long and hot summer.

 

[Fogdog]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/20/payroll-tax-cut-stimulus-trump/

Trump wants a payroll tax cut in the next stimulus package. It’s a bad idea.

There are things that make great sense in theory but make no sense in the actual world in which we live. President Trump’s idea of eliminating (or modifying or who-knows-what-ing) the Social Security-Medicare payroll tax as part of an economic stimulus package is a classic example of something that makes no sense in the real world.

In theory, eliminating or reducing payroll taxes is the quickest and cleanest way to stimulate the economy for people who have jobs. Suddenly, those people are taking home more money than they were. That’s why payroll taxes have been cut before to stimulate the economy, and it seems to have worked.
But in our current environment, it makes no sense to cut or eliminate the payroll tax — paid equally by employees and employers — to provide emergency assistance to people in need and boost the economy, which needs all the stimulus it can get.

If you don’t have a job, you’re not paying payroll tax. So eliminating the payroll tax wouldn’t put any more money in your pocket.
And as a class, recently unemployed people are the ones most in need of a quick financial fix. That’s especially true given the looming July 31 end for some of the benefits they’ve been getting under the Cares Act. Cutting or eliminating the payroll tax wouldn’t help them in any way

Main reason: Tax cuts work when people are working. The stimulus bill now under consideration is to help people who aren't working.

There are plenty of other reasons, such as, implementing this in the middle of the year will be a headache to employers who would have to implement it. It's just another example of failed Republican trickle down economics. Borrow money to pay for tax cuts to the wealthy. Again? Also, the crisis is caused in part by weaker social safety nets. Cutting funding to the already weakened system would help us how?

But really, the main reason is that people aren't working right now and they are the ones in need of a bridge to the other side of this recession. Without them, there can be no recovery.



Stop this corruption. Let your Congressmen know you don't support this.

 

[Dr.Amber Trichome]

I mailed off my OK voters reg today because I will most likely still be here in Nov. the job market has totally just froze . For unskilled workers in the town I live in things look terrible. What I am seeing are few very low paying jobs that a lot of people are applying for. The competition is fierce . So what these company’s are doing is lowering their wage even lower! So a job before then Pandemic that might pay $9 hr is now down to $7.50 an hour because they know some people are desperate And will take it and they can get away with it.

 

[Fogdog]

I mailed off my OK voters reg today because I will most likely still be here in Nov. the job market has totally just froze . For unskilled workers in the town I live in things look terrible. What I am seeing are few very low paying jobs that a lot of people are applying for. The competition is fierce . So what these company’s are doing is lowering their wage even lower! So a job before then Pandemic that might pay $9 hr is now down to $7.50 an hour because they know some people are desperate And will take it and they can get away with it.

They are lowering wages.

Why am I not surprised?

A living wage should be the minimum.

Vote Republicans out.

 

[Rob Roy]

legal recourse for people harmed by Covid-19.

When defining "harm" it can very much depend on point of view. For instance some people have died from covid, mostly older people etc.

Young people have a very very low chance of covid harming them, and a much greater chance of being harmed by government edicts using the excuse of covid.

 

[Fogdog]

uh oh

Some 7-11 clerk reminded rob that his behavior (less than 6 feet, no mask, coughing) was a hazard to everybody around him. Expect long winded diatribes about tyranny.

 

[ebcrew]

Who do you thinks paying for all this stimulus shit. We are, taxpayers atleast.

 

[Rob Roy]

uh oh

Some 7-11 clerk reminded rob that his behavior (less than 6 feet, no mask, coughing) was a hazard to everybody around him. Expect long winded diatribes about tyranny.

Thank you for illustrating my point about point of view. Yours, is wrong, as usual.

I wasn't "reminded". I was bitched at by a Junior Nazi clerk with a poor command of english, there was no store policy that a mask must be worn and I wasn't coughing. You got the long winded diatribe thing right though. You're 1 for 4 and batting .250 slugger.

While I wouldn't like it, if a store has a policy of "masks must be worn" I'd respect it and would shop elsewhere or wear a mask designed to aggravate them.

There may have been some kind of notice that the STATE had issued some edict or another about masks, but I routinely ignore those. The store, being private property has a right to tell me to fuck off if I don't like their rules. The STATE has no right to dictate what I do, since I am not their property and I eagerly tell them to fuck off.

Also, I'm more than 6 feet, closer to seven feet, with large hands and feet too. Damn, now your batting average is .200.

 

[UncleBuck]

look at this little crying bitch cry

 

[Rob Roy]

look at this little crying bitch cry

 

[Dr.Amber Trichome]

They are lowering wages.

Why am I not surprised?

A living wage should be the minimum.

Vote Republicans out.

Yeah . I hope Oklahoma flips . I know a lot of people don’t like him here. There was a Tour bus That had “Women for Trump” on it in a parking lot here today and it was not very well received at all. People were laughing them out.

 

[Fogdog]

Who do you thinks paying for all this stimulus shit. We are, taxpayers atleast.

It''s all borrowed money, just like Trump's tax cut. Nobody has paid anything except essential workers with their lives.

 

[ebcrew]

It''s all borrowed money, just like Trump's tax cut. Nobody has paid anything except essential workers with their lives.

i am essential, there was no vacation for me.

 

[Fogdog]

i am essential, there was no vacation for me.

Same here.

I haven't seen a bump up in taxes to pay for the emergency checks, neither have you. So stop crying about what hasn't happened. What DID happen is Trump squandered trillions of borrowed money on a tax cut for the wealthy at the very time he should have been paying down the debt.

Deficit spending during an economic crisis like this the smart thing to do. Increasing the deficit in a give-away to people who don't really need it during a healthy economy is dumb.

 

[hanimmal]

Trump's bullshit publicity stunt is setting us up to fail in December just to trick his cult into thinking he is not the total flop he is.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/10/social-security-payroll-tax-cut/

President Trump’s memorandum to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchinordering that he suspend Social Security taxes for some employers and their employees for the rest of this year makes no sense if the goal is to offset economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.

But it makes a lot of sense if it is to undermine Social Security and stir up class and generational warfare, which is clearly the goal of both Trump and his close ally, Stephen Moore, who has railed against the whole idea of Social Security for years.

FAQ: What is in Trump's four executive orders

Step back and look at the big picture — and listen to Trump say that he’lleliminate Social Security tax next year should he be reelected — and you realize that if Trump prevails, it would likely mean the end of Social Security as we’ve known it.

“What President Trump has been calling a Social Security ‘tax holiday’ can easily turn into a permanent vacation,” says William Arnone, chief executive officer of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

In a Fox TV appearance Sunday, Mnuchin said the Treasury would make “an automatic contribution” to the Social Security Trust Fund to offset the loss of payroll tax revenue. And presumably if Trump got reelected and eliminated both the employee and employer portions of the Social Security tax permanently, the Treasury would make up for those losses, too.

What Mnuchin said is clearly designed to reassure people that Social Security is safe now and for future generations. But that’s not the case, because having Social Security funded out of general tax revenue would make it immensely vulnerable to political and financial pressures.

The way the system works now, Social Security takes in 12.4 percent of an employee’s income up to $137,700, split evenly between employer and employee.

Even though Social Security is currently paying out more money than it takes in, it’s not increasing the federal budget deficit, for technical reasons that we won’t go into here.

But if you permanently pay for Social Security out of general tax revenue — which is what would happen under Trump’s “if I’m reelected” scenario — that would greatly increase the federal budget deficit.

It would also turn Social Security from a self-funded intergenerational transfer program — my Social Security taxes paid for my late parents’ benefits, my adult children’s Social Security taxes are paying for my benefits — into just another federal program.

Trump’s proposal is far different than previous temporary Social Security tax cuts, including those for two years during the Obama presidency.

Yes, like Trump’s proposal, the Obama program used general revenue to compensate Social Security for its lost tax payments. But a two percent, two-year cut is a whole different thing than a through-the-end-of-the-year — and possibly forever — “tax holiday.”

That’s why I didn’t criticize the Obama program, but I’m criticizing the Trump program.

Trump's payroll tax cut is a bad idea

Now, let me show you the class warfare part of what Trump is proposing.

His memorandum covers people earning $104,000 or less in salary, and their employers as well.

The majority of those people are paying more in Social Security tax — including the employer’s portion — than they pay in federal income tax.

Mainstream economists assume that the employer’s 6.2 percent portion is money that employees would otherwise get. That could well be true in the long run — but it’s not true in the short run in a situation like the one we’re in now, where jobs are scarce.

But Trump’s pitch is obvious. He’s implicitly promising what his order calls “the American workers most in need” a 12.4 percent immediate raise because they won’t have to pay their 6.2 percent Social Security tax, and their employers will give these workers the 6.2 percent Social Security tax that they will no longer have to pay.

I suspect that some businesses that want to kiss up to Trump may do this — but I can’t imagine that 6.2 percent migrating to employees from employers anytime soon.

The generational warfare would pit retirees and near-retirees who badly need Social Security against younger people, who think that the program won’t survive long enough to pay them and would rather have money in their pocket today than the prospect of getting Social Security in the future.

I hope I’m wrong about all of this, because I revere Social Security, which has allowed tens of millions of Americans — including some of my family members — to stay out of poverty in their old age and keep their self-respect.
But I’m afraid that I’m right.

 

[Herb & Suds]

FUCK TRUMP and any who enable him
America is being destroyed from the right !

 

[Fogdog]

FUCK TRUMP and any who enable him
America is being destroyed from the right !

It's the first time a presidential order was used like this. It's not only a shot at Social Security, which Republicans have opposed since its inception.

Vote Republicans out.

 

[kmog33]

Republicans are holding unemployed people hostage in order to get another tax cut.

Trump payroll tax cut would come at a time when Social Security is already facing trouble

President Trump's proposed payroll tax cut would boost the economy, but would slash the primary source of funding for Social Security.

www.usatoday.com

"Payroll taxes". Sounds like a bad thing. Who wants tax on payrolls?

What is a Payroll Tax?

Payroll taxes are taxes paid on the wages and salaries of employees to finance social insurance programs like Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance.

taxfoundation.org

What are Payroll Taxes?
Put simply, payroll taxes are taxes paid on the wages and salaries of employees. These taxes are used to finance social insurance programs, such as Social Security and Medicare. According to recent Tax Foundation research, these social insurance taxes make up 23.05 percent of combined federal, state, and local government revenue – the second largest source of government revenue in the United States.

By hook or by crook, Trump's Republicans are going after funding for Social Security. They started his term with this issue and are making one last try to eliminate social security as we know it. As usual, this "tax cut" mostly favors the wealthy. I know, I didn't need to say that.

Ssi won’t be around when any current non ssi receiving gen is old enough to receive ssi anyway. Not saying it’s ok, but the system has been ducked since long before trump. I feel bad for anyone that want to retire in the very near future and has paid into the system their entire lives, but will get jack all because the government has been fucking the ssi system forever. With that and people on welfare in lots of circumstances benefitting more from staying on welfare than looking for/getting paid bullshit at a min wage job....

it’s sort of rooted in our education/social system imo, and sort of like COVID. If people can make more taking money from the government(your/my taxes), why would they be productive. The answer is they wouldn’t and so the cushion honey pots developed back in the day that used to take care of everyone needed to, because more were productive than not, is definitely no longer the case. And if you can’t figure out a way to save enough to last you through death after retirement/don’t have anyone willing to take care of you as a gen x or younger....youre fucked and will probably just have to work until you die. Lol