By Blake Wolf, OAN Staff
Thursday, August 1, 2024 12:23 PM
Former President Donald Trump announced in a statement on Wednesday his intention to eliminate the taxes that seniors pay on their Social Security benefits.
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“Seniors should not pay taxes on Social Security!” Trump declared in Truth Social.
Trump appeared to be alluding to the reality that certain Social Security benefits are subject to ordinary income tax, as they have been since 1984.
“Under current law, seniors whose combined income – adjusted gross income plus certain adjustments and half their Social Security benefits – is less than $25,000 per year ($32,000 for married couples) pay no tax on their Social Security benefits. Above that amount, 50 percent of their Social Security benefits are subject to income tax, with the earnings going to the Social Security Trust Fund. Seniors whose combined income is more than $34,000 per year ($44,000 for married couples) are subject to tax on an additional 35 percent of their benefits, with the earnings going to the Medicare HI Trust Fund,” the department says. Committee for a Responsible Federal Budgetis a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization committed to educating the public on issues that have significant fiscal policy implications.
The Social Security tax was enacted by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 as a bipartisan reform measure intended to “strengthen the financial solvency of the Social Security Fund.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s announcement isn’t the first time he’s spoken about his desire to cut taxes. He has previously said he wants to exempt tips from federal tax. The announcement came at a rally in Las Vegas in June after Trump said he’d previously had a conversation with a waitress in Nevada.
The topic of tax cuts began during Trump’s first term, when he considered cutting the payroll tax rate from 21% to 15%, but ultimately opted to allow for a delay. Trump has said he might reconsider the decision in a hypothetical second term.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that the Social Security and Medicare trust funds will be depleted by the mid-2030s, leading to cuts of 21% in Social Security benefits and 11% in Medicare Part A benefits “unless Congress agrees to a solution.”
Maya McGuineas, President Committee for a Responsible Federal Budgetreleased a statement in response to President Trump’s announcement.
“The most important thing we can do for seniors is fix Social Security before the trust fund collapses,” she said. “Pandering to seniors will not avoid the across-the-board benefit cuts we’re now heading for.”
Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign has stressed the importance of not cutting “one penny” from Medicare or Social Security.
But with the current fiscal year deficit projected to reach $1.9 trillion, tax cuts would mean Trump would have to tackle budgetary challenges.
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