Why Not?

Yesterday Speaker Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay called the Bush Administration proposal to increase the wage ceiling for Social Security Taxes, calling it a tax increase on the wealthy.

I certainly don't buy into the Democratic rhetoric that the Bush Administration and the GOP are all about tax breaks for the rich. The richest 1 percent of Americans pay probably 20 percent of the income tax revenue in the country, so a tax break for them is justified since they are footing a larger share of the bill than anyone else.

But in this case, I think the Hastert and DeLay have this one wrong. Most taxes are about the redistribution of wealth to pay for necessary government programs. In exchange for their tax breaks, which will be made "permanent," the wealthy need to consider giving a little up in Social Security taxes. It is better to pay now, than later when the costs of supporting the elderly go up.

Raising the wage ceiling is not a silver bullet, but with the Bush plan, they need to come up with some way of regaining some of the lost income for the system. This is one way to do it.


Idea to Raise Social Security Wage Limit Criticized (washingtonpost.com)