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Trump’s “Trojan Horse Attack” On Social Security

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58ed068d16000026004d9f00Vox reports today: “Republicans are floating a tax reform plan that could threaten Social Security.” Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times just wrote about the proposal that Trump’s team “has floated as a way, ostensibly, to cut taxes on the middle class.” Hiltzik notes that: “According to the Associated Press, they’re toying with the idea of eliminating the payroll tax, which funds Social Security and part of Medicare, or cutting it drastically. This is an absolutely terrible idea, partially because it smells like a back-door way of cutting Social Security benefits. It needs to be nipped in the bud.”

NANCY ALTMAN, via Linda Benesch, lbenesch [at] socialsecurityworks.org, @ssworks
Altman is president of Social Security Works. She just wrote the piece “Trump’s Trojan Horse Attack On Social Security,” which states: “As part of his tax package, Donald Trump reportedly is planning to propose replacing employee contributions to Social Security with general revenue. The proposal is a Trojan horse: It appears to be a gift, in the form of middle class tax relief, but would, if enacted, lead to the destruction of working Americans’ fundamental economic security.

“If Trump proposes this Trojan horse, it would be the newest shot in the ongoing Republican war against Social Security. That war has failed so far. The American people overwhelmingly support Social Security because they appreciate that it provides working families with basic economic security when wages are lost as the result of death, disability, or old age. And it does so extremely efficiently, securely, fairly, and universally. …”In the 1980s, Republicans, who had long tried but failed to cut government programs directly, discovered a new tactic. They realized that they could undermine government and eventually force cuts to spending by cutting taxes and, in their words, starve the beast. Now, Trump is making plans to use that same tactic against Social Security.

“Not only would the Trump proposal starve Social Security of dedicated revenue, it would ultimately destroy it. Social Security is not a government handout. It is wage insurance that the American people earn, as part of their compensation, and, indeed, pay for with deductions from their pay.”