Popular vote loser Donald Trump promised one big thing in his primary race—he wouldn't touch Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. But one gets the idea that Trump doesn't really understand what any of those things means or how they work from watching how the policies coming out of his White House are unfolding. For example, Trumpcare would force cuts to Medicare and basically destroy Medicaid. Now this, that new tax plan they're supposedly working on to replace the one he ran on and had to scrap.
And now it's Social Security, which is most definitely in the tax "reform" policy they're tossing around.
The administration's first attempt to write legislation is in its early stages and the White House has kept much of it under wraps. But it has already sprouted the consideration of a series of unorthodox proposals including a drastic cut to the payroll tax, aimed at appealing to Democrats. […]
One circulating this past week would change the House Republican plan to eliminate much of the payroll tax and cut corporate tax rates. This would require a new dedicated funding source for Social Security.
The change, proposed by a GOP lobbyist with close ties to the Trump administration, would transform Brady's plan on imports into something closer to a value-added tax by also eliminating the deduction of labor expenses. This would bring it in line with WTO rules and generate an additional $12 trillion over 10 years, according to budget estimates. Those additional revenues could then enable the end of the 12.4 percent payroll tax, split evenly between employers and employees, that funds Social Security, while keeping the health insurance payroll tax in place.
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.
"Changing the funding mechanism" means telling workers they're bringing so much more home with their pay, that they can invest that money in the stock market. Privatization by any other name, of course. How likely is it that congressional Republicans are going to come up with another funding mechanism, one that requires taxing people. Not just unlikely, impossible.
Does Trump understand that Social Security is funded through payroll taxes? Does he even care? Nah. That's the detail stuff that he has people to understand. Those people, however, are undermining his promises. And if they actually try to go through with this? He might become the first president in history to have single-digit approval ratings.
