Why Trump wants to cut the payroll tax, "the primary funding mechanism for Social Security" [View all]

[Miles Archer]

“This is a Trojan Horse attack on our Social Security system.”

Economists and progressive advocacy groups are warning that President Donald Trump’s proposal to cut or temporarily suspend the payroll tax in an effort to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus is “a Trojan Horse attack on our Social Security system” that will do little to help most U.S. households.

Slashing the payroll tax, the primary funding mechanism for Social Security, “is the wrong way to go,” said Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
.
“They may well use a temporary tax cut as an opportunity to weaken the program’s finances so that they can then push for cuts or privatization.”

—Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research

“Trump and the Republicans in Congress cannot be trusted to protect the Social Security trust fund,” Baker said. “They have frequently proposed cuts to the program, and under President Bush, sought to privatize it. They may well use a temporary tax cut as an opportunity to weaken the program’s finances so that they can then push for cuts or privatization.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/stealth-attack-on-social-security-trump-condemned-for-exploiting-coronavirus-crisis-to-push-payroll-tax-cut/