Introduced into the Senate on 2/16/2017, Senator Bernie Sanders has recently re-introduced this amendment as part of his presidential campaign. It would amend the current social security system to help boost social security payouts, revise the current Cost-of-living calculation for elderly beneficiaries, and enhance it’s protections to ensure longevity.
The Original Amendment: To enhance Social Security Benefits and ensure the long-term solvency of the Social Security program.
Here are the main points of interest of the original bill of 2017:
- Increase the Primary Insurance Amount for all eligible beneficiaries, beginning in 2023.
- Revise computation of the COLA to use the Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers. The official switch would be from the current CPI-W index to using the CPI-E index.
- Increase the special minimum primary amount for lifetime low earners based on years in the workforce.
- Extend payroll taxes on wages, salaries, and self-employment earnings to income above $250,000
- Increase the tax rate on investment gain from 3.8% to 10%
Senator Sanders would like to see the following changes to help provide higher income for low-income seniors and requiring the wealthy to pay more into Social Security. Here are his main points of interest:
- Increase the Primary Insurance Amount for all eligible beneficiaries, beginning in 2025.
- Provide an extra $1,300 a year to low-income seniors. Low-income seniors is defined as to those earning less than $16,000 in annual income. Older beneficiaries would see an average increase in benefits of $43 per month at age 80 and $73 per month at age 90.
- Switch the current COLA index from the CPI-W the CPI-E, effective December 2021.
- Again, extend the payroll taxes on wages, salaries, and self-employment earnings to income above $250,000. The gap for those earning between $132,900 and $250,000 would not be affected. Effective in 2020.
- Increase the tax rate on net investment income tax from 3.8% to 10%, again same as the original act of 2017. This would affect those who earn over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. Effective in 2020.
- Continue benefits for children of disable, or deceased workers until they attain the age of 22 if the child is in high school, college, or vocational school, beginning in 2020.
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