If not now, when?

"If not now, when?" is attributed to Rabbi Hillel: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?"

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Raise the cap on FICA wages

I have never earned enough to exceed the "cap" on income subject to FICA (Social Security and Medicare) taxes, so all of my income is taxed for contributions to these entitlements. But if I earned over $113K a year, I would pay FICA taxes only up to the "cap" of $113K, i.e. I could earn $500K a year and pay the same amount of FICA taxes as someone who earns $113K. The FICA taxes aren't scaled like income tax, so a minimum wage earner ($15K a year) pays FICA taxes at the same rate as someone who earns $113K (and a minimum wage earner pays at a much higher rate than a $500K earner). We have two choices to fix the Social Security fund: (a) reduce benefits for the elderly, the vast majority of whom have paid FICA on all their earnings, or (b) raise the cap so those who earn more--and thus have more opportunity to save for retirement--will contribute FICA taxes on more of their income. That's the whole issue: Who pays? Another way to think about it is "Who will suffer most?" But then, I'm a bleeding heart.