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A solvent solution
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Raising the retirement age is one solution proposed to insure that Social Security can continue to provide all or most of us with vitally needed income when we retire. This may seem feasible for those who work at jobs that are not physically demanding. However, to expect people who work as factory employees, coal miners, laborers, truck drivers, plumbers, etc., to work until 70 or beyond is unrealistic.
Rather than increasing the retirement age, a far better solution would be to remove the cap of $100,000 on which we pay Social Security taxes. If we eliminate the cap, we would make all income subject to the payroll tax. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it would do three times as much to solve Social Security shortfalls as raising the retirement age to 70. The CBO reports that by removing the cap, Social Security's solvency gap would be closed for 75 years.
AL ANDREWS
Mt. Lebanon
First Published December 7, 2012 12:00 am
