President Donald Trump has declared that he plans to eliminate taxes that seniors are forced to pay on their Social Security checks.
Trump announced the plan on Wednesday, to a flood of support.
“SENIORS SHOULD NOT PAY TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
The statement from the 45th president has been met with enthusiasm from several prominent conservatives.
Many view this proposal as a direct response to the financial struggles faced by older Americans.
“American seniors worked hard their entire lives and paid into Social Security with every paycheck they got,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrote in a post on X.
“I completely agree with President Trump!
“American seniors shouldn’t pay a penny of tax on Social Security.”
American seniors worked hard their entire lives and paid into Social Security with every paycheck they got.
I completely agree with President Trump! American seniors shouldn’t pay a penny of tax on Social Security.
It’s only right that the same system they’ve paid into their… pic.twitter.com/6p7dgvRFps
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) July 31, 2024
“The Roundtable Show” host Mario Nawfal also praised Trump’s plan.
“In the past, Democrats have proposed taxing Social Security benefits,” Nawfal posted on X.
“Joe Biden supported a 1983 bipartisan amendment to tax 50% of benefits for higher-income individuals and a 1993 measure to increase this taxable portion to 85%.
“These efforts aimed to address funding challenges for Social Security and Medicare.
“This move could win over many senior voters.”
🚨🇺🇸TRUMP ANNOUNCES PLAN TO REMOVE TAXES ON SOCIAL SECURITY CHECKS
In the past, Democrats have proposed taxing Social Security benefits. Joe Biden supported a 1983 bipartisan amendment to tax 50% of benefits for higher-income individuals and a 1993 measure to increase this… pic.twitter.com/91XjxEixGR
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 31, 2024
Taxation on Social Security dates back to a bipartisan reform measure signed into law by former President Ronald Reagan in 1983.
The measure was intended to shore up the solvency of the program’s trust fund.
Generally speaking, there is a tax of up to 50% tax on one’s Social Security benefits if total income is between 25,000 and $34,000 – and up to an 85% tax on benefits when income is over $34,000, according to the Social Security Administration.
Trump made waves in his own party earlier this year with his pledge to eliminate taxation on tips.
During the Republican National Convention, Trump recounted how he formulated that proposal during a conversation with a waitress in Nevada.
Trump had also mused about slashing payroll taxes, which help fund Social Security, during his first administration.
However, he ultimately opted to allow for deferrals.
He has recently suggested the possibility of revisiting that in a second term.
Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump has demanded that Republicans refrain from cutting “a single penny” from Medicare or Social Security.
The Republican Party’s platform, which was approved earlier this month and personally written in part by Trump, rules out cuts to Social Security and Medicare, including any potential lifting of the retirement age.
Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and other organizations have projected that the trust funds behind Social Security and Medicare will run dry at some point by the mid-2030s.
Should that happen, there will be at least an automatic 21% cut to Social Security benefits and an 11% reduction in Medicare Part A benefits.
Nevertheless, Congress has yet to produce any remedies.
In addition to pitching no taxes on tips and Social Security benefits, Trump has also proposed slashing the corporate tax rate, which sits at 21%.
Trump wants to reduce it to 15%, a figure he tossed around during his 2016 campaign.
Corporate tax reform was one of his signature legislative accomplishments during his first administration.
But additional tax cuts are likely to run into hurdles amid the nation’s ballooning national deficit, which the CBO has estimated to be $1.9 trillion for fiscal year 2024.
The CBO also projects that interest on the national debt alone for fiscal year 2024 will clock in at roughly $892 billion.
On Monday, the national debt soared past $35 trillion for the first time ever.
One avenue Trump has floated to compensate for those reductions is to ramp up tariffs.
He’s teased a 10% across-the-board tariff on foreign imports broadly and suggested tariffs of at least 60% on imports from China.
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