due in 12 hours
Each of your two responses to peers will be evaluated using the following criteria. In each response, the student should:
- Furthers the conversation by providing a compliment, comment, or connection
- Ask at least one thoughtful question in direct response to a statement(s) of others. Your comments and questions should contribute additional analysis and build on the input of others through logical viewpoints or challenges.
- Use proper grammar and accurate spelling. Writing is concise and easy to read.
- Writes approximately 100 words. (2 -3 complete sentences)
do you believe the Social Security tax should continue to be capped at $118,000 annually or should the level be raised? Explain why you believe this would be a fair or unfair taxation on current workers? Would it be more equitable to reduce the level of benefits to recipients? Why or why not
The cap limits how much high earners need to pay in Social Security taxes each year, in this case, one hundred eighteen thousand dollars annually. Although this is quite an eye opening number, there is no way that our Social Security Tax should continue to be capped at said amount. Raising the cap would help calm down the breaking of Social Security’s payroll tax base caused by rising wage inequality. Most workers’ taxes would not change, while the increase in high earners’ taxes would depend on whether the cap were raised or eliminated. Raising the tax cap could increase higher earners’ benefits as well, depending on how policymakers treated newly taxed earnings. Changes to the tax rate would affect all covered workers and would not change benefits. Increasing rates alone could close the entire solvency gap; even a modest change. It would definitely be more equitable to reduce the level of benefits to recipients because more people would receive benefits. Like Shuyi said, increasing the cap by 90% of total earnings would address about 75% of the anticipated shortfalls.
Your feedback and question:
(100 words)
Given the rapid growth rate of the elderly population in the United States, we have a growing problem that people receiving social security benefits are beginning to outnumber the amount of people who are still working and paying into the program. This means that as of now, our social security program is on an unsustainable path, so adjustments obviously must be made. Currently, 50% of income in the United States is earned by only 10% of the population which does not seem very equitable to me. Therefore, I think that the social security cap should be raised for higher earning Americans. Although it is likely that high earning Americans will not need social security benefits by the time they retire, I still think that they should have to pay more into it. Ultimately the high earners probably would not have made much money if it weren’t for the rest of our population who makes up our economy, so they should be required to give back to the public. I do not think it would be fair to reduce the level of benefits for recipients, because the current social security benefits are already an established standard of living. Reducing the current benefits would be frustrating to many people, because they would no longer receive everything that social security had promised to them in the first place.
Your feedback and question: