Any effort to restore financial health to the Social Security system should start with lifting the cap on income subject to the Social Security tax. Fairness requires that high earners should pay at a rate least as high as the rest of us.
Why is this important?
Social security taxes are currently applied to only the first $113,000 of earnings. That means that anyone who earns more than that pays a lower tax rate than the rest of us. Why should millionaires like Warren Buffet pay no social security tax on the billions of dollars he makes above the first $113,000, giving him an effective social security tax rate of practically zero? Lifting the income cap on social security taxes would instantly improve the financial health of the system, without cutting benefits for those who have been paying into the system their whole lives, and depend upon it to avoid poverty in their old age.
