Charles Christup (D)
There is no question that our society has developed a social security system that provides our senior citizens with significant support in their retirement years. Our system has also relieved or lightened the heavy burdens of caring for aging family members. The result has yielded a great economic and quality of life benefit to both the retirees and their families. Both the old and the young are greatly benefiting from the social security system. It is not perfect but it is working and working to the enormous benefit of everyone, the old and the young. I support that which strengthens social security and oppose that which weakens it.
The withdrawal of funds from the general social security funding would weaken the system and therefore I oppose the republican proposal to weaken the social security system. However, out of bad, unscrupulous, idiotic efforts or intentions can come a gem of a good idea.
The Gem of an idea that I see here is the idea of creating a wage connected payroll deduction dedicated to a retirement program of and managed by the individual employee much like as IRA. It would be a payroll "tax credit" from the normal amount of the "income tax" deduction. The amount of the "tax credit" which would be transferred by the employer to the private source designated by the wage earner would be one half of the employee contribution to the social security fund. The result would be: 1) No deduction in the funding of the social security system, 2) No deduction in the "net pay" to the employee, 3) The creation of an additional retirement income source with the possible opportunities for gain or loss which may be derived from private investment, and 4) Providing income tax relief directly to the people in our economy who have shared the least in the fruits of our new found prosperity and carry the greatest tax burden, the wage earners.