General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Republicans' plans to slash Social Security and Medicare are becoming clearer: 'We have no choice... [View all]Lonestarblue
(9,977 posts)and projected obligations as part of a unified federal budget. There is ample reason for doing so. The biggest one is that income taxes are intended to pay for the operation of the federal government. SS taxes are not income taxes and do not being in the general fund. In effect, what Republicans are arguing is that SS money should be used to give wealthy people and corporations big tax breaks.
Plenty of options exist fir addressing the debt, but SS and Medicare should not be on the table. Get rid of tax loopholes for the wealthy, stop subsidizing fossil fuels, look at the billions being wasted by the military, and raise taxes on the wealthy. Republicans ignore the fact that the top income tax rate was 70% when Reagan was elected. He proceeded to slash it, along with every other Republican administration, and today the rate is something like 35%. Even at that rate, many of the wealthy pay little or no tax because they have a huge arsenal of tax avoidance schemes.