{"id":129,"date":"2012-12-18T15:30:18","date_gmt":"2012-12-18T15:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unitedwestandllc.com\/uws\/?page_id=129"},"modified":"2014-07-03T23:53:26","modified_gmt":"2014-07-03T23:53:26","slug":"considerations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.unitedwestandllc.com\/uws\/expenditures\/social-security\/considerations\/","title":{"rendered":"Considerations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Social Security Considerations<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

In order to insure the long term solvency of the Social Security Program, there are many steps that might be taken to accomplish this important national priority.\u00a0 However, the options to reach this important goal come down to increasing the social security taxes to support the program or lowering its expenditures and in effect the benefits of the program.\u00a0 Where the information is available, we will note the effect on the overall annual Federal deficit\u00a0 (i.e., in 5. below under expenditures, we note \u2018This will save $13 billion in FY2015\u2019)\u00a0 as well as the current estimate of the effect on closing the solvency gap within just the Social Security program (i.e., in 1. below under taxes, we note \u2018This will cover 98% of the Social Security shortfall.\u2019).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For tax increases to support the Social Security Program, listed below are some of the options that have been put forward.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Subject all earned income to social security taxation as presently is the case with Medicare taxes.\u00a0\u00a0 This will cover 98% of the Social Security shortfall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Subject earned income up to $218,100 to social security taxation from $117,000 in calendar year 2014.\u00a0 This will cover 36% of the Social Security shortfall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Subject earned income up to $160,000 to social security taxation from $114,000 in calendar year 2014.\u00a0 This will cover 16% of the Social Security shortfall.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0Raise the earned income limit to 90% of taxable wages.\u00a0 If this is done gradually by 2050, this will cover 35% of the Social Security shortfall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Raise the Social Security tax rate for the employee.\u00a0 Each .25% raise in the tax rate will reduce 11% of the shortfall in the Social Security program.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6. \u00a0Raise the Social Security tax \u00a0rate for both the employer and the employee.\u00a0 Each .25% raise in the tax rate will cover 22% of Social Security shortfall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7. \u00a0Remove the exemption from social security taxes on salary reduction plans.\u00a0 This step is unscored.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8. \u00a0Subject Flexible Spending Account withholdings to Social Security Taxes.\u00a0This step is unscored.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 Subject Cafeteria Plan Employer expenditures to Social Security Taxes.\u00a0 This\u00a0step is unscored.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

10. \u00a0Subject commuting Employer expenditures to Social Security Taxes.\u00a0 This\u00a0step is unscored.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

11. \u00a0Subject Health Insurance Employer expenditures to Social Security Taxes.\u00a0 This\u00a0step is unscored.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For decreasing social security expenditures, listed below are some of\u00a0 the options\u00a0that have been discussed.<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Increase the age when social security benefits can be first\u00a0 taken.\u00a0 The present age\u00a0is 62.\u00a0 This proposal is unscored.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Increase the age when full social security benefits can be taken.\u00a0 The present age is\u00a066 to 67 depending on your date of birth.\u00a0 If the age for full benefits is increased to\u00a068, this proposal will cover 18% of the social security shortfall (phase in starts in\u00a02023 and is finalized in 2028). If the age for full social security benefits is\u00a0increased to 70, this will cover 44% of the Social security shortfall (phase in starts\u00a0in 2023 and is finalized in 2040).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Increase the age when full social security benefits can be taken using a longevity\u00a0Index.\u00a0\u00a0 This will cover 23% to 27% of the social security shortfall depending on\u00a0the details of the plan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Eliminate the cost of living escalator.\u00a0 This step is unscored.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Freeze social security payments for 1 year.\u00a0 This will save $13 billion in FY 2015,\u00a0$14 billion in FY 2016, and $15 billion in FY2017.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 Freeze social security payments for 3 years.\u00a0 This will save $13 billion in FY 2015,\u00a0$30 billion in FY 2016, and $48 billion in FY 2017.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 Change the cost of living escalator from the CPI to the Chained CPI.\u00a0 This will\u00a0cover 23% of the Social Security shortfall. \u00a0\u00a0It will also reduce expenditures by\u00a0$11 billion per year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8. \u00a0Reduce the social security payments to the top 25% of earners 15% over a period\u00a0of time.\u00a0 This will cover 7% of the Social Security shortfall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9. \u00a0Reduce the social security payments to the top 50% of earners 28% over a period\u00a0of time.\u00a0 This will cover 31% of the Social Security shortfall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

10.\u00a0 Make the social security benefit calculations more progressive than they currently\u00a0are.\u00a0 This will cover 45% of the Social Security shortfall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

11. \u00a0Increase the number of years in the wage history used to calculate social security\u00a0benefits from 35 years to 38 years.\u00a0 This will cover 13% of the Social Security\u00a0shortfall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

12. \u00a0Reduce social security benefits yearly depending on the other income of the\u00a0recipient.\u00a0 Depending on the plan, it will cover 11% of the Social Security shortfall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

13.\u00a0 Reexamine the disabled for recipients who can now work.\u00a0 For each 10% found to\u00a0be able to work, expenditures fall by $14 billion per year.\u00a0 The estimates range from 33% to 67% of the disabled can work.\u00a0 This generates between $47 billion to\u00a0$94 billion annually<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Social Security Considerations   In order to insure the long term solvency of the Social Security Program, there are many steps that might be taken to accomplish this important national priority.\u00a0 However, the options to reach this important goal come down to increasing the social security taxes to support the program or lowering its expenditures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":127,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"expendituresnav.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-129","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedwestandllc.com\/uws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedwestandllc.com\/uws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedwestandllc.com\/uws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedwestandllc.com\/uws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedwestandllc.com\/uws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedwestandllc.com\/uws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":873,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedwestandllc.com\/uws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/129\/revisions\/873"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedwestandllc.com\/uws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedwestandllc.com\/uws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}