Obama Plans a Massive Hike in Social Security Taxes

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I conquer with Daniel here! Finally, our next President is going to deal with all the mess, Bush did!
How can bush continue taxing the middle class, and expect our economy to grow? Remember that the economy can't improve if the middle class don't have money to spend.
Obama 08

Eddie of CA 5:44PM June 13, 2008

I conquer with Daniel here! Finally, our next President is going to deal with all the mess, Bush did!
How can this idiot, bush continue taxing the middle class, expect our economy to grow? Remember that economy can't improve if the middle class don't have money to spend.
Obama 08

Eddie of CA 5:41PM June 13, 2008

Q:
Social security and medicare are the most regressive taxes in existence; why not just have them both kick in at incomes of $250K and up, without caps on either, instead of the "donut hole" approach? Wouldn't that go much further for the economy than dubya's lame economic stimulus payments?
A:
It matters not, since Congress makes these types of decisions, not the president.
But it sounds great
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss........

Bill Slick of NY 5:39PM June 13, 2008

Get used to it, America. Fixing social security will require (gasp!) that we put in more money. Obama deserves credit for facing this head on.
Why should high earners be (essentially) exempt from the social security tax? I pay 6% of my income, they should pay 6% of theirs-- they will howl, but fair is fair.

Jason of GA 5:37PM June 13, 2008

To Obama, this is not an income tax increase.
Neither is "expiration" of the Bush tax cuts.
Obama believes in a wholly new and substantial increase in the marginal income tax rates, above what they were under Clinton, under H.W. Bush, and very likely also under Ronald Reagan. And possibly "surcharges" even above that.
That means -- you guessed it -- he wants to return to marginal rates last seen when Jimmy Carter was President of the United States.
Meanwhile, all the locked in capital gains prior to 2001 were taken by the "rich" under the low capital gains taxes of the Bush Administration. So the new Obama higher rates on capital gains will singularly attack the new accumulation of wealth by the next generation of entrepreneurs.
All in all, it's a future of malaise, Eurosclerosis, and fighting for scraps in a fishbowl.

Anil Petra of CA 5:33PM June 13, 2008

Bill of MO is correct. Letting people keep what they earn and then spend it, is the best thing for this nation and the economy. If you have more, you will spend more. This will help everyone (with a job). If the government takes it, who benefits? Those without a job... the ones who haven't earned it!

Russ of FL 5:04PM June 13, 2008

Bill, I knew someone would start with the "entitled to keep" stuff. I'm with the crowd that knows Reagan and O'Neill raised the payroll tax on little people in the 1980s precisiely to raise the Social Security Trust Fund to it's present 2 trillion level over decades of pay-in by those little people FOR THE PURPOSE INTENDED.
The PROGRESSIVE income tax is how we raise the money for everything else here in America.. Bush forgot this, gave away the progressive part of the income tax and then ran off to fight wars no one would agree to pay for. He deficit spent the Trust Fund twice over (4 trillion of new debt), and now the Republicans want to say it's Social Security that is broke. Barack, thankfully, sees this and is more truly "conservative" for real citizens than his opponents. Audacity for sure.
No thanks, your

Daniel David of NM 4:59PM June 13, 2008

To Daniel David- No one is "lending" the highest wage earners their OWN Money back ,you idiot. All that is happening is that people get to keep more of what THEY EARN and THEY ARE ENTITLED KEEP. You are unhappy because you don't know how to earn as much. Gert a real job and pay some more taxes!

Bill of MO 4:34PM June 13, 2008

This is just the tip of the Obama tax increase iceberg.

Babalu of CA 4:06PM June 13, 2008

OMG!!!! Barack Obama has propsed a plan to actually get the Social Security Trust Fund paid back a PORTION of the $2,000,000,000,000.00 it lent to the highest earners in America to fund the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts. And Barack plans to get it back FROM those very highest earners that it was mostly lent to? Go get the same dollars back that Bush's boys of Congress gave them as a break in the first place? And via a payroll tax they can't dodge? Talk about AUDACITY AND HOPE. That man has AUDACITY AND HOPE.

Daniel David of NM 3:56PM June 13, 2008