Now that… (above) is something Democrats could run on and win, if they only had the guts to do it. Sure they’d have moderate ass-wipes like Coons and Kaine fretting and moaning about it, but fuck those guys.
And by the way, I know I tend to view “policy” through the lens of “strategy” but even from a pure policy perspective, getting the wealthy to pay their fair share will help people and help heal the country. Simply put – this is GREAT policy.
At a time when nearly half of older Americans have no retirement savings and almost fifty percent of our nation’s seniors are trying to survive on an income of less than $25,000 a year — we need to strengthen and expand Social Security, not cut it.
For generations, Social Security has safeguarded tens of millions of people from destitution. Not just people over the age of 65, but also millions of people — young and old — with disabilities, and children who have lost, or don’t have a working parent.
It’s our nation’s most powerful anti-poverty program, and yet every year, Republicans threaten to strike it down in order to — you guessed it — bankroll tax cuts for the rich.
Recently though, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced legislation to expand benefits by $2,400 a year and fully fund the program through 2095 by getting the wealthy to pay their fair share.
Right now, because of an income cap set in 1983 on Social Security contributions, even CEOs and billionaires only pay taxes on their first $160,000 of income.
Meanwhile, teachers, nurses, and other workers who make less than that are paying taxes on 100% of their income.
How is it in any way fair that somebody making millions or even billions of dollars a year is contributing the exact same amount into Social Security as somebody making $160,000 a year?
Let’s scrap the cap and require millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share into Social Security.
In solidarity,
Working Families Party