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The Democratic chair of the Senate Finance Committee said during a hearing Wednesday that instead of tossing Social Security’s sacred guarantee “in the trash” by cutting benefits, lawmakers should crack down on mega-rich tax dodgers as a way to keep the New Deal program fully solvent for decades to come.
“The ultra-wealthy are avoiding nearly $2 trillion in taxes every 10 years,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said during a Senate Budget Committee hearing. “That is enough to keep Social Security whole till the end of this century.”
“That’s where we ought to go to start making progress,” Wyden added.
The senator’s remarks came during a hearing titled “Social Security Forever: Delivering Benefits and Protecting Retirement Security,” which featured testimony from Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O’Malley and several expert witnesses.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who presided over the hearing, used his opening […]
This isn’t something new; it’s been going on for as long as anyone can think about it. Either the staff at IRS are being paid off to ignore what is actually owed by the ultra-rich, or they are too lazy to deal with it. Further, there was supposed to be about 80 people hired to help with going after these tax dodgers. So? Were they hired? Are they actually going after these tax dodgers?
If you want to talk about inequality, here is the perfect example: the rich don’t pay nearly what they owe and the IRS goes after the little guy for chump change! Time to change the rules so that Social Security is not constantly brought up as going broke in 5 to 10 years! It is totally solvent if those who are ultra-rich pair their fair share!