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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (45102)	8/23/2010 12:38:15 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

They say that because the retirement program has long run a surplus, it is not to blame for the budget deficit. Which is not a very meaningful point because. 1 - Taxing is taxing, spending is spending, call the tax the same name as the spending program and it doesn't mean each dollar spent added any less to the deficit. The surplus, deficit, "trust fund" etc, are mainly fairly meaningless accounting entries. 2 - The taxes reduce our ability to raise other taxes without encountering hard political opposition, and without damaging the economy. Without the SS tax, we could have higher income tax rates (particularly for the income brackets before SS tax phases out, not that they would be higher than the taxes for the high income earners above that point, but they could be closer to, in some cases equal to the higher rates) 3 - The program is now spending more than the FICA taxes bring in.