RED ALERT - Republicans are threatening to DEFUND SOCIAL SECURITY

[CousinIT]

37. Another article on this from TPM. NO WAY would HRC E V E R have considered such a thing...

Social Security Advocates Sound The Alarm About The Latest Trump Tax Plan

Following reports that President Donald Trump is dumping the tax plan he campaigned on and exploring a host of other options, advocates for Social Security are sounding the alarm, pointing to a proposal to eliminate the program's primary source of funding: payroll taxes.

Though it is not yet known how far along the White House proposal has progressed, those who want to protect Social Security say they are taking the news "extremely seriously."

"Even if this is just a trial balloon, we want to puncture it as quickly as we can,” said Nancy Altman, the president of the advocacy group Social Security Works.

According to the Associated Press, lobbyists aligned with the Trump administration are pushing for the elimination of the 12.4 percent payroll tax, which is the overwhelming source of revenue for the Social Security trust funds, which provide benefits to the elderly and the disabled. The report published Monday details how they plan to sell the idea to lawmakers and the public:

This approach would give a worker earning $60,000 a year an additional $3,720 in take-home pay, a possible win that lawmakers could highlight back in their districts even though it would involve changing the funding mechanism for Social Security, according to the lobbyist, who asked for anonymity to discuss the proposal without disrupting early negotiations.

Altman, who told TPM that she only found out about this plan from press reports, called it a Trojan Horse.

"They will sell it as a tax cut for the middle class, but really this is undermining middle class economic security, and the ability to retire," she said. "They’ll say they're 'saving' Social Security, but basically they want to scale back or get rid of the program."

No other dedicated funding source has yet been floated to replace the payroll tax as a funding mechanism for Social Security, and the odds of Republicans supporting a new tax are slim.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/social-security-tax-program-cuts