Sep

24

Barack Obama On Social Security

Posted by cameron

September 24, 2007 |

In previous posts I have complained that Presidential candidates are not speaking to me about concerns I have for the future of Social Security for my children and me. Today I will say that Barack Obama has become the first. In this past week Senator Obama announced a proposal on tax relief for retirees that makes some sense to me. We all like tax breaks but taxing Social Security is just flat wrong. I liken it to taxing unemployment checks. His plan will eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 a year, which is many of them. Millions more will not even have to file a return.

In my corporate life I have exceeded the maximum income for paying Social Security taxes but it never made any sense to me. At a time when I earned a substantial paycheck I could easily afford to pay those taxes but never understood why there was a maximum in the first place. Sure the pay raise late in the year was nice, but it was unnecessary. Obama is proposing an end to that cap on Social Security taxes. Senator Obama claims his proposal, in effect, solves the Social Security funding problem without raising the tax rate that everyone pays or decreasing the benefit to seniors. If his math is correct that is a plan I could vote for. According to Obama this will not solve the entire problem but it goes a long way to solving it.

I think we can also expect a partial repeal of Bush’s tax cuts no matter which Democrat wins the Presidency, at least for the wealthiest among us. That move also has the ability to solve Social Security and other governmental fiscal problems.

It is refreshing to find one candidate among this field that actually appears to be in tune with some of my greatest concerns.

You can read Barack Obama’s position statement here.


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