Trump’s move to cut payroll taxes would gut Social Security, say critics

As if seniors didn’t already have enough to worry about as the coronavirus shuts down the economy and threatens their very survival, now comes a new worry. The Trump White House is chasing after another payroll tax cut, in the form of employer contributions to Social Security, that critics say would gut the system.

A Common Dreams report points out that not only does Trump favor yet another cut to the taxes that fund the Social Security program, but he’s also proclaiming a desire to see it cut permanently—a move that would slash the trust fund that pays out earned benefits to seniors every month.

Progressive advocacy group Social Security Works has warned on Twitter that Trump’s remarks about the “so-called ‘payroll tax holiday’ has nothing to do with helping workers and everything to do with undermining Social Security,” adding, “Trump wants to permanently cut payroll contributions—code for gutting Social Security’s dedicated funding as an pretext to demand benefit cuts.”

Trump has talked up the idea with Republican lawmakers, and is quoted in the report saying, “The payroll tax cut would be a great thing for this country. I would like to have it regardless of [the coronavirus crisis].” Such a plan would put the lie to his claims of “saving” Social Security, since it would undercut the fund from which benefits are paid.

The provision already inserted into the existing coronavirus legislation lets employers stop paying payroll taxes till at least the end of this year, which already poses a threat to the Social Security system. Progressives characterized the move as an “insidious” attack on the system’s long-term funding.

According to a Washington Post report, Trump is also talking up the notion of a capital gains tax cut as part of whatever stimulus measure is devised next.