Social security provides a vital financial lifeline for tens of millions of Americans, and many more expect to rely on their monthly Social Security benefits when they retire. With the Financial Challenges program, Social Security has become a major issue in the 2020 presidential campaign. Both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have expressed their support for Social Security, but the two candidates have very different ideas about what to do with the program.
In particular, Biden’s general plan includes some provisions that would boost the benefits of Social Security in many cases, but it would come at the expense of additional taxes. Meanwhile, in 2020, Trump has not raised social security issues as a problem, but some of what he has proposed as president suggests what he probably wants to do with the program.
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Trump’s Social Security Platform: Filling the Gaps
For the most part, President Trump has not provided a specific platform on how he intends to address social security and its financial challenges. At this time, his campaign website does not include social security publishers.
Actions, however, speak louder than words, and Trump’s movements of the Oval Office have noticed. White House budget proposals have repeatedly focused on social security spending, citing “inefficiencies” in the program that could result in cost savings if addressed. One particularly controversial proposal earlier this year is the addition of an assessment of a restriction to the Social Security program. The new rule would provide benefit recipients with additional information supporting their ongoing claims for benefits on a biennial basis. Opponents have suggested that the rule would result in millions of Americans losing their benefits, despite having the right to receive them.
In addition, Trump has repeatedly called for tax cuts in response to the COVID-19 crisis. However, he has not been so fussy as to guarantee that the general budget would reimburse the Social Security Trust Funds for the loss of income from a payroll tax holiday. Without that backstop, Social Security would even find itself in financial penalties sooner.
Biden’s Social Security platform: Higher benefits, higher taxes
Former Vice President Biden would take a different approach in the direction of Social Security. Rather than addressing a lack of funding by looking to reduce benefits, Biden would expand Social Security and impose significant taxes to pay for those additional benefits.
Americans pay social security taxes on their first $ 137,700 in salary by 2020. However, higher-income taxpayers will stop paying additional taxes if their income goes above this threshold. This is because additional benefits do not accrue more than those income thresholds. The Biden plan would again impose the 12.4% tax funding Social Security on income above a certain level, with similar proposals suggesting $ 250,000 as a reasonable threshold. Opponents argue that the move would change the purpose of Social Security in principle, and what a retired pension generator would have been in a wealth distribution tool.
With this extra money, Biden would look to Social Security benefits. In addition to dealing with the sustainability of current benefit payments, the tax bill would provide additional benefits to those who have been retired for 20 years or more. It would guarantee higher minimum benefits for low-income workers, and extend higher payments to surviving spouses after the death of their spouse. Biden would also remove some provisions that diminish benefits of Social Security for those families with a history of government income who were not subject to tax evasion.
A line in the sand
The differences in the positions taken by Trump and Biden on Social Security are as wide as the divisions between their two parties. With so much disagreement, most people with Social Security advice would find it easy to choose a favorite candidate. Unfortunately, the enormous gap between the two positions also shows how unlikely it is that Capitol Hill lawmakers will be able to pass legislation that will actually make it through Congress to get to the president’s office – regardless of who that president is. can be.
