by Mike Hall, Aug 25, 2011
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a group New Hampshire seniors, including members of the Alliance for Retired Americans, that he supports raising the retirement age or cutting benefits as opposed to asking all taxpayers to pay a fair share to strengthen Social Security.
Currently, all workers pay the Social Security payroll tax on the first $106,000 of their earnings. Earnings above $106,000 are exempt from the Social Security payroll tax. That means a grocery clerk or warehouse worker pays a bigger chunk of their income to Social Security than a hedge fund manager.
In a meeting in Lebanon, N.H., Alliance President Charlie Balban asked Romney if he would support raising the Social Security payroll tax beyond its current $106,000 cap to help strengthen Social Security.
One member of the audience told Romney, “We’re just asking that everybody pay at the same rate.”
Romney said he was opposed to having the wealthy pay Social Security payroll taxes on more or all of their income as most workers must. He said he instead would support raising the retirement age or cutting benefits by changing the way the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is calculated. CPI is used to determine cost of living adjustments for Special Security recipients.
Romney is referring to a proposed new inflation formula known as “chained CPI,” which, if implemented, would mean that a worker in 2011 at age 65 will see his or her Social Security benefits slashed by $6,000 over 15 years.
