I think you would probably agree that finding that correct way is probably why the issue is never addressed fully.. It's a tough one.. I guess you would have to allow a certain amount of people to be grandfathered in, or perhaps have the government match funds like a 401k.. I suppose an SS system that encouraged you to save by matching your contributions would likely be a start... Outside of that, who knows?
How about a slightly different system. You are allowed to invest totally on your own, to do so though you simply pay a fee like 5% on the amount invested. You get back what you put into SS up to that point - a fee. The fees are used to pay for the system, you pay this simple fee to invest on your own. Something like this I would think could help save the system, more $$$ coming in with less withdrawing. Yet giving those who want to invest on their own that option. I could see supporting something like this at least, I'm no economist though Those who do not pay the fee and invest on their own are forced into the dumb SS system, in which they are happy with whatever they get. This way in reality it's not forced, only if you decide not to invest yourself. --- I have to admit I don't like the forced idea at all, but can't think of any other way around it.
That is true and another issue. Social Security is more than a pension. Millions of people get payments through Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for blind and disabled as well as Social Security Disability (SSD) A 401k type Social Security will not cover this and someone will still have to pay.
Alot of those people also do not deserve it. I know of a few who currently abuse the system, would be nice to start by cleaning the system out of those abusing it.
That is one of the biggest problems with the system. People who do not deserve it get it.. People who don't even pay into it get it...
I've got news for you. The SS money is spent, there is no interest. there is no money. Just promises to pay. IOU's basically. The fed will simply create the money out of thin air. You think the dollar is dropping like stone now, just wait until the baby boomers start sucking up the SS funds.
We can agree on some things. That is exactly the position of Ron Paul. He wants to cut spending to cover our obligations, and allow people to get out of SS and create their own retirement plans. That's pretty much verbatim where he stands. Thank you for backing me up on this. A lot of people are totally in the dark about it, convinced the funds are there.
Personally, I don't see why 90%+ of americans would have the SLIGHTEST PROBLEM with this idea... except for being ignorant of not only their own finances but the math involved.... for one simple reason. How many of you make more than $97.5K/year? If you make less than that, STFU. OH NOES, let's tax people who make more money the same as people who make less!!! WHAT A HORRIBLE IDEA. GAFC.
President Bush stated in his State of the Union address: "Some in our country think that Social Security is a trust fund -- in other words, there's a pile of money being accumulated. That's just simply not true. The money -- payroll taxes going into the Social Security are spent. They're spent on benefits and they're spent on government programs. There is no trust."
I take it you've never hit the top tax bracket? When you hit it the way it is already you get hit HARD with taxes. You can literally make less by making more with the top tax bracket the way it is than someone who makes less before taxes, yeah that's fair. I got hit so hard one year I almost cried, all because I was in the top tax bracket. I watched what I made for the year dwindle to nothing compared to what it should have been, makes people who make more want to make less to come ahead. But yeah just tax more and more, what a great way to solve our problems. What do you suggest we do when there is nothing left to tax? ---BTW Not everyone takes stances simply because it does or does not effect them, pretty piss poor to be that way if you ask me. Is that what you are saying you are?..
This will be murder on small businesses. We pay both sides of SSI for a total of 15%+. Odds are we will never see a dime of it either. VOTE RON PAUL!!!!
Exactly! People look at the numbers and say 'oh it's just the rich' they fail to see alot of small business people might make a profit of 100K one year, the next they might not. The extra taxes can literally kill small business people. It gives them less to put into their business, less chances of jobs being created, less chance of the business staying open, less to put away for bad years. Plus guess who will also end up paying for the tax increase, those who do not want to pay for it now 'under the limit amount' for higher prices on goods and services. But yeah, lets just tax some more, great way to solve problems.
No, I've never had that PROBLEM with the federal, and I made MUCH more than that limit - Yes, at the upper limit the income tax is about 22K (last I checked), but that's 99.5 and some change so figure 77.5 - look at someone making 90K and they only get hit 19.5, so that's 70.5, that's less. If you bother to sit down with a calculator and your tax instruction booklet NOWHERE can you come up with a case of the mythical "making more making less than a bracket below it" for an amount of more than three dollars - Even at the 'cut lines' it doesn't happen. You MIGHT hit it with the schedule X 35% scheme, but you need to break 154K to worry about that (which has nothing to do with the topic at hand) Total bogus MYTH - at least... in FEDERAL taxes. Now if you want to talk STATE tax on the other hand, I lived in the Commiewealth of Taxachusetts for years. Federal is bupkis when the state you live in takes three times as much, an arm,leg, a thirteenth your flock and your firstborn. There's a reason I moved to a no income tax state. A laborer in Nashua makes about as much takehome as a CEO in Boston (I say, I say, that's a joke son...)
I have an accountant who does my taxes for me, and according to him it is not a myth If it's 'state' or 'federal' I could not say. There has been more than one year he has tried his damnest to get me out a tax bracket to save me $$$. The tax levels have changed though over the years have they not? --yes maybe a bit too far as in actually making less, dollar per dollar of what you brought in though, the amount put out, etc makes less dollar per dollar might be a better way of saying it It doesn't matter, why not fix the case instead of taxing more? BTW the way of your first post to your second, me thinks you are trying to brag a bit too much.
Imagine how simple the tax system would be with no federal tax at all? The government can still charge corporate tax, and collect tariffs. The income tax is only around 40% of spending right now. With a big turnaround in foreign aid and militarism, that could be lopped right off the top. The empire costs nearly $1 trillion a year to run. The stuff that pisses me off is bombing Iraq and then rebuilding it. And giving idiots like Pervez $10 billion of the tax payers money. The system needs to be scrapped and built for the people who pay into it.
tax tax tax...spend spend spend One day we are all going to wake up to 90% of our income going to taxes. Hey, long as we have dancing with the stars to watch, who cares, right?