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Dear Editor:
One candidate will strengthen Social Security by having the wealthy pay taxes on all of their wages above $400,000―they currently stop paying the tax at about $138,000 in wages. Biden will use that revenue to increase the minimum Social Security benefit and ensure the program can pay full benefits for decades.
The other―Donald Trump―has spoken about "terminating" the payroll tax that funds Social Security, which would effectively kill the program by 2023.
Social Security is critical to the financial stability of tens of millions of families―seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, children and surviving spouses. It's also the most successful social insurance program in our country's history.
Recently, Social Security's Chief Actuary wrote a letter to Congress stating that without payroll tax contributions, Social Security's Trust Fund will run out of money in 2023, with the disability trust fund running out even sooner.
In response, what did Congressional Republicans do? Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) doubled down on Trump's recent actions, each introducing legislation to cancel employees' payroll contributions the remainder of this year. This is an assault on the future of Social Security and provides little to no aid to working families.
The majority of people that I know already have or will welcome the Social Security that we have paid into all of our working lives when we retire. We will need it to bolster the savings most of us have to live a comfortable retirement. A number of people I have known didn't have any income other than their Social Security and have had trouble just paying for their prescriptions and balancing that with other necessities to live. There are millions of Americans in this same situation and without it may need to move in with their children, or worse have nowhere to go if they can't pay their rent. Basic necessities may be hard to come by for many. This should not be happening in a country such as ours. We need to take care of our less fortunate people in their later years. We need a president who understands this and will fight to keep our Social Security System intact. Trump does not care. He has no empathy for those less fortunate. He needs to be voted out.
Pallas Dieter-Brabant
Montfort, WI