Martin O`Malley on Social Security Democrat

Make it easier for workers to invest in their own retirement

• Strengthen Social Security's long-term financing by "lifting the cap on the payroll tax for workers earning more than $250,000."
• "Dramatically expand access to employer-based retirement plans. Half of all workers do not have access to a retirement plan. Among part-time and low-income workers, roughly seven in 10 lack an employer-based retirement option."

Increase retirement benefits & provide caregiver credits

Features of O'Malley's "Expanding Social Security So Americans Can Retire With Dignity" plan:
• Immediately raise Social Security benefits -- with larger increases at the bottom than the top.
• Increase "the special minimum social security benefit to 125 percent of the poverty line for Americans who have worked at least 30 years.
• Provide "up to five years of 'caregiver credits' that would increase the 35-year wage base for those who spend an extended period of time providing fulltime care for children, elderly parents, or other dependents."
• Push policies to "lift the wages of all workers, which will make meaningful contributions to Social Security's long-term balance sheet. This includes raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and enacting comprehensive immigration reform."
• Make affordable, high-quality long-term care a national priority. Develop an efficient, affordable, and high-quality system to provide a diverse range of long-term care services for our seniors.

Without Social Security, 1 in 4 seniors would be poor

Repeal income tax on retired veterans; & later all retirees

Eventually, once we solve our current budget crisis, and turn our economy around, I want to reach the point where we are able to do away with income taxes on all retirement income, just as many other states have done. This week, we will start heading toward that goal by submitting legislation that repeals income taxes on pensions for retired military, police, fire, and first responders. These brave men and women have put their lives on the line for us--they deserve it--and they have earned these tax breaks.

Create Retirement Savings Accounts.

Balance America’s Commitments to the Young and the Old
An ever-growing share of the federal budget today consists of automatic transfers from working Americans to retirees. Moreover, the costs of the big entitlements for the elderly -- Social Security and Medicare -- are growing at rates that will eventually bankrupt them and that could leave little to pay for everything else government does. We can’t just spend our way out of the problem; we must find a way to contain future costs. The federal government already spends seven times as much on the elderly as it does on children. To allow that ratio to grow even more imbalanced would be grossly unfair to today’s workers and future generations. In addition, Social Security and Medicare need to be modernized to reflect conditions not envisioned when they were created in the 1930s and the 1960s. Social Security, for example, needs a stronger basic benefit to bolster its critical role in reducing poverty in old age. Medicare needs to offer retirees more choices and a modern benefit package that includes prescription drugs. Such changes, however, will only add to the cost of the programs unless they are accompanied by structural reforms that restrain their growth and limit their claim on the working families whose taxes support the programs.

Goals for 2010
• Honor our commitment to seniors by ensuring the future solvency of Social Security and Medicare.
• Make structural reforms in Social Security and Medicare that slow their future cost growth, modernize benefits (including a prescription drug benefit for Medicare), and give beneficiaries more choice and control over their retirement and health security.
• Create Retirement Savings Accounts to enable low-income Americans to save for their own retirement.