Mr. Trump’s
Payroll Tax Cut? No Way! My Plan Does It Better!
Current
President Donald Trump wants a payroll tax cut as part of any next stimulus
plan. His goal: destroy Social Security, much like his attempt to damage the
U.S. Postal Service. These two programs are America’s best; Mr. Trump is not.
However, The
B.E.S.T.* Social Security Modernization Plan does have provisions to make the
payroll tax less regressive and more progressive. First, keep in mind that B.E.S.T.*
is flexibly designed in that provisions can be tweaked in the spirit of the
plan.
Here are a
couple provisions: 1. Low wage earners
who earn below a set annual amount will be able to file and annual tax return
to get a percentage of their payroll tax refunded to them. However, their
refund will come from general revenues not the Social Security Trust Fund. 2.
Earners at the top tier of the covered earning base will be required to
pay a higher payroll tax rate only for their earnings that exceed a designated
higher level.
Keep in mind
that B.E.S.T. * redefines short term capital gains, dividends, and rental
income as wages so that they are subject to the payroll tax which will boost
the Social Security Trust Fund coffers.
Of
particular interest is making rental income subject to paying the Social Security
payroll tax. What this will accomplish
is that it will be less lucrative to buy up strings of properties and homes,
thus making housing more affordable for individual home buyers. Fewer slum
lords?
