Interviews during 2017-2019: on Social Security
Andrew Yang:
Fund Freedom Dividend payments with 10% VAT
Lifelong assured income would not be funded by payroll taxes; given that its purpose is to supplement labor income, it can't be financed by further taxing it. One potential revenue source is a national value-added tax (VAT). Yang has proposed funding a
$1,000-a-month Freedom Dividend with a 10 percent VAT. Like any consumption tax, a VAT is regressive if it stands by itself but becomes progressive if all its revenue is recycled equally.
Source: The Nation magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jo Jorgensen:
Allow opt out: IRAs safe from greedy politicians
Q: How would you guarantee Social Security benefits for future generations?A: Politicians have spent every cent in the Social Security Trust Fund on other programs, leaving behind worthless IOUs.
Other countries have successfully replaced their government-run systems with individual retirement accounts safe from greedy politicians.
As President, I would work to implement a solution like the Cato Institute's "6.2% solution", which would allow any
American the opportunity to "opt out" of the system while making the current system fiscally stable for those who choose to remain.
Source: AFA iVoterGuide on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Nov 3, 2020
Donald Trump:
Never cut Social Security; payroll tax cut won't affect it
Q: Would you allow cutting Social Security?TRUMP: We'll never cut Social Security, and you can rely on that. We will guard it with everything we have.
Q: You have said you would like to "terminate the payroll tax" if you win reelection. Payroll
taxes fund Social Security and Medicare. How would you finance these programs without payroll taxes?
TRUMP: Providing a payroll tax deferral poses no risk to the Social Security trust fund and puts more money in the pockets of hardworking Americans.
Source: AARP Survey on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Sep 28, 2020
Joe Biden:
Increase benefits for widows/widowers instead of cutting
BIDEN: I will strengthen it. What I would do is increase the benefits going to widows and widowers from the steep cuts in benefits that occur; when the one who is getting the biggest payment passes.
I would not change payroll taxes for anyone earning less than $400,000, but everybody making more than that will pay the same payroll tax on wages over $400,000 as they pay on their first $137,000.
Source: AARP Survey on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Sep 28, 2020
Gloria La Riva:
Cap benefits to three times those receiving minimum
We demand that the Social Security system remain entirely within the public sector, with funding derived from a steeply graduated income tax on all income, earned and unearned.
We call for the inclusion of all state and local government workers within the Social Security System. We call for a cap on Social Security benefits so that no beneficiary receives more than three times the income of those receiving the minimum.
Source: Socialist PSL Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful
Aug 3, 2020
Howie Hawkins:
Apply FICA tax to all levels of income including investments
Apply the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (Social Security and Medicare) taxes to investment income and to all levels of income, not merely the first $106,800 earned. Oppose the privatization of Social Security.
Enact a wealth tax of 0.5% per year on an individual's assets over $5 million.
Source: Green Party Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful
Jul 12, 2020
Don Blankenship:
No use of S.S. Number except Social Security business
We support privacy legislation that prohibits private parties from discriminating against individuals who refuse to disclose or obtain a Social Security number. We call for legislation prohibiting all governmental entities from requiring the use of the
Social Security number except for Social Security transactions. We call for the repeal of all laws, regulations and statutes that require the use of the Social Security number for any purpose other than Social Security transactions.
Source: Constitution Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful
May 2, 2020
Don Blankenship:
Allow people to withdraw funds and privately invest them
We propose that individuals who have contributed to Social Security be allowed to withdraw those funds and
transfer them into an IRA or similar investments under the control of the individual contributor.
Source: Constitution Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful
May 2, 2020
Don Blankenship:
Privatize Social Security, but pay current benefits
We call for an end to the raiding by the federal government of the Social Security, Railroad Retirement and Medicare funds. We believe that over a protracted period the Social Security system may be privatized without disadvantage to the beneficiaries
of the system. However, the program has been in place since the 1930s, and workers and their employers were taxed for the program and paid in good faith. The government promised to deliver the benefits and must meet this commitment.
Source: Constitution Platform adopted by 2020 presidential hopeful
May 2, 2020
Mike Bloomberg:
2009: Called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme"
Bloomberg compared Social Security to a "Ponzi scheme" and repeatedly said cuts to that program as well as Medicare and Medicaid had to be part of any serious solution to reducing the federal deficit. "I don't know if Bernie Madoff got his idea from
there, but if there's ever a Ponzi scheme, people say Madoff was the biggest? Wrong. Social Security is, far and away," Bloomberg said in a January 2009 appearance, referencing the imprisoned former investment adviser who committed billions in fraud.
Source: CNN K-File FactCheck on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 26, 2020
Mike Bloomberg:
2009: Social Security a Ponzi scheme, 2020: boost receipts
Bloomberg vowed to "strengthen entitlement programs." But when he was mayor of New York, Bloomberg twice compared Social Security to a "Ponzi scheme" and repeatedly said cuts to that program as well as Medicare and Medicaid had to be part of
any serious solution to reducing the federal deficit. "I don't know if Bernie Madoff got his idea from there, but if there's ever a Ponzi scheme, people say Madoff was the biggest?
Wrong. Social Security is, far and away," Bloomberg said in a January 2009 appearance.
A spokesman for Bloomberg defended him: "Mike believes that between now and that time, we will need to boost receipts by raising contributions from those who can best afford it."
Source: CNN K-file on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 26, 2020
Tom Steyer:
Great countries don't break their major promises
Details on where Tom Steyer stands on Social Security have not been as readily available to date, in part because he has never held public office. In an emailed statement, Steyer called Social Security "a promise that America has made to our seniors."
"American workers have put money into the system for their whole working lives and are depending on it to be there for them when they need it,"
Steyer said. "Great countries don't break their major promises to their citizens.
"Under all circumstances, my administration will live up to the promise to protect
Social Security, including by raising the income cap." More details on Steyer's plan, including how much he would raise the income cap subject to Social Security payroll taxes, were not available.
Source: CNBC's Personal Finance series on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jan 14, 2020
Amy Klobuchar:
Proposed new retirement accounts for those without
The Republican tax bill did so much to help the wealthy build up a trillion dollars in debt. All you have to do is make some changes to that that won't hurt everyday Americans and you have the money to literally ensure that
49 million Americans, who have no retirement right now except for Social Security, can start saving. We call it UP savings accounts.
And it is a great idea. 50 cents for every hour someone works in an account that they can take with them, no matter where they work, if they don't have a 401(k), where they can take out the first
$2,500 for emergency expenses, when we've got four out of ten Americans that don't even have $400 for an emergency room bill.
Source: Meet the Press 2019 interview of 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 28, 2019
Howie Hawkins:
The most regressive tax of all is the FICA payroll tax
The most regressive tax of all is the FICA payroll tax at 15.3 percent for Social Security and Medicare. 15.3 percent includes the employer match. But employers include the tax in their labor budgets and it limits what they can pay their workers.
The 12.4 percent Social Security share of FICA is outright regressive because it is capped for high-income earners at $128,400 in 2018.
Source: Truthout, "Popular Resistance" on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 19, 2019
Howie Hawkins:
The most regressive tax of all is the FICA payroll tax
The most regressive tax of all is the FICA payroll tax at 15.3 percent for Social Security and Medicare. 15.3 percent includes the employer match. But employers include the tax in their labor budgets and it limits what they can pay their workers.
The 12.4 percent Social Security share of FICA is outright regressive because it is capped for high-income earners at $128,400 in 2018.
Source: Truthout.org on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 19, 2019
Cory Booker:
Raise the cap on Social Security taxes to fund system
Fixing Social Security is not as complicated as people make it. It is unfair that if you're making $100,000, $150,000, you're paying a higher percentage of your income into Social Security than somebody who's paying a million dollars. We need to make
sure that we create a fairer, more progressive Social Security tax situation so that if you're making a million dollars, you're paying more into that system. Having changes to that cap to Social Security would more fully fund Social Security.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 27, 2019
Amy Klobuchar:
Address national debt without cutting entitlements
I have long been focused on this debt. I don't think this is the time to make some kind of wholesale changes to Social Security or Medicare. I think on the Social Security front you could lift the cap and basically put a donut hole in there and that
would help to pay for Social Security. That Republican tax bill went so low that once it went under 25 percent, every point was $100 billion. Think what that could pay for, for rural broadband all over this country, which I pledge to do by 2022.
Close the carried interest loophole. Bring the capital gains rate to the rate that we see for personal tax rates. One thing I would add to the mix, comprehensive immigration reform.
The bill we had back in 2013 brought the debt down $158 billion.
Source: CNN Town Hall: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 18, 2019
Joe Biden:
Freeze entitlements; don't favor special interests
Biden toured the country in 1985 chiding groups like unions and farmers for being too narrowly focused and complained that Democrats too often "think in terms of special interests first and the greater interest second."
In the latter case, Biden was specifically complaining about their opposition to his calls for a spending freeze on entitlements and an increase in the retirement age.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Aug 7, 2018
Page last updated: Nov 01, 2021