In 2022, I shared a chart showing that the burden of government spending in France was projected to climb by about 12 percentage points of GDP over the next four decades. That sounds terrible, and it is terrible. But it’s especially horrible news since France already has an excessive burde...
These line-in-the-sand income thresholds were only expected to impact higher-earning households when they were introduced. But sincenone of these thresholds have been adjusted for inflation over multiple decades, an increasingly larger percentage of senior households are affected by this t...
Payroll taxeswould have to rise by 3.5 percentage points to eliminate Social Security's projectedactuarial deficitover 75 years. This would ensure that the program has the funding to pay scheduled benefits in full over that time frame. The payroll tax rate is 12.4% with workers contributing 6.2%...
Most U.S. workers pay Social Security payroll taxes all through their careers. The current tax is 12.4%, typically split in half between workers and employers at 6.2% each (self-employed people pay for the full 12.4%). Thankfully, not all your income is subject to Social Security...
While the taxable maximum is adjusted each year, the percentage of total earnings above that threshold has increased over time. This year, that meant a top earner with $1 million in gross annual wage incomestopped paying into Social Securityin March. ...
What Social Security looks like after 2033 will be determined by Congress rather than opinion polls. In the past, lawmakers have opted to increase payroll tax rates and, much less frequently, to raise the age of eligibility for benefits, to ensure the program's solvency. ...
“Emergency savings make it easy for employees with things like payroll deduction and the ability to sign up for these programmers,” he says. “All of those factors will help more workers save for the rainy day.” The Social Security Expansion Act, introduced earlier this week by Senators Be...
It’s been ten days since the Social Security annual report to Congress has come out. I’ve been waiting for the devotees of SS to write something cheery about the report. For the most part the cheerleaders have been silent. That’s with good reason. The report stunk. There’s nothing...
"I have more seniors [in Florida] than just about anyone as a percentage. You know, we're not going to mess with Social Security as Republicans," DeSantis said on Fox News in March, responding to Biden's claims that Republicans supported cuts. ...
(Then-labor minister Jose) Pinera’s proposal began with scrapping the payroll tax on the country’s social security system and inviting all workers to take the money they were contributing and move it into a private pension. Workers would be free to choose the fund, how much to put in, ...