There wasn’t much policy substance last night. But one thing Biden said that was somewhat substantive has been stuck in my craw.
Asked how he’d keep Social Security solvent, his answer was that wealthy people need to “pay their fair share.”
Now, in any context, this stock line is populist claptrap. It’s just a rabble-rousing way to say “those rich, greedy bastards need to pay more.”
But it’s particularly egregious in this context. Typically, the flaw in the line is that this amount is undefined (try asking somebody how much “fair share” is and you’ll see what I mean). But the Social Security benefits a person is entitled to are a direct function of the OASDI taxes they have paid.
As such, by definition, every single one of us already pays our “fair share” of Social Security taxes.
Yeah, a guy who makes $20M of income only pays the OASDI tax on the first ~$170k of it (Medicare tax, on the other hand, is assessed on all of it). But his benefit schedule is no different than somebody who makes exactly $170k per year.
Stuff like this is one of the reasons I’ve become so cynical about politics. Even when pols are ostensibly dealing in substance (as opposed to, say, golf handicaps and porn stars), they’re so disingenuous….it’s nauseating.