A bit of true populist conservative Social Security and tax reform

Good afternoon one and all,

You can tell summer is coming to an end since the days are definitely shorter than they use to be, not because of the temperature around here.

I used to brag I would keep this blog positive and work to post positive comments. The last few years have been rough on the ole psyche, yet we must keep the faith. The last post was a bit critical, yet I still stick by it. The press can criticize Trump, just stick to what he is not doing or failing to do as President. Some of the other petty articles we should lose. Anyway, so as not to criticize I have decided to go back and try to add ideas to solve issues facing our country.

These are two short thoughts on topics I have suggested ideas before. Awhile back I wrote a lengthy description of a broad-based plan to help keep Social Security solvent. Today I want to suggest another way to help that can be added in conjunction with my previous proposal. And it includes a bit of tax reform.

First let’s drop the income tax rate a bit maybe 7-10% for working and middle-class earners since they are the people that can primarily benefit from Social Security anyway. We take a portion of the 7-10% and switch it over to social security. So, the income tax is reduced 7% of which 2% is added to the amount withheld for social security and to help small businesses out and all businesses out, there is no corresponding increase in how much the employer should contribute. For now, workers have 15% added to Social Security from which 7.5% from employee and 7.5% from employer. Now the income tax rate is reduced and some of this is added to Social Security making the employee contribution 9.5% for a total 17%. If needed, you can increase the wage amount that social security can be withheld a small amount also. The employee and the employer’s tax burden is not significantly impacted and Social Security receives the extra income for future generations.  And the income tax rate is dropped 5% and even though a small drop allows more money back in the people’s hands now and in the future.

And going back to one of my old ideas where corporate taxes should not be reduced till they do something to earn a tax break. Employers that increase payroll receive a tax credit for the amount they increase payroll. It is a wash for the employer basically, some cost may exist, however, the working and middle class receive extra income which along with the income tax reduction for them helps the economy. The increase in wages also increases the amount going to Social Security especially when you add the extra 2%.

I am against corporate and higher income bracket tax reductions till the wage and wealth gap is reduced. I cannot justify in my head tax reductions for these groups till we see a corresponding investment in our economy and our people.  It is time we put the horse before the cart for the one percent. Most of our large corporations rely on customer spending anyway so you could make the joke this is now trickle up theory.  Yes, really bad joke. Or you could say what goes up, must come down. Stronger economy means more corporate profits which makes it easier to continue the  upward wage trend coming back down to the working and middle-class. The bugger in a plan like this is inflation so hopefully the correct groups can use their tools to balance the growth vs. inflation pendulum.

We need to increase competition also. Customers will need to make sure they spend money where they are treated well so there is no attempt at price increases to double up on increasing income for corporations when they raise wages. People will have to rely on themselves to make this work since we do not need socialistic price controls creating more bureaucracy creating a need for more government. I am a smaller government conservative. This means we, the people, need to take on more responsibility. To help, we can spend money on better education. This is an investment that benefits society as a whole and helps the people make better decisions to support these ideas.

You can play around with it yourselves if you want to create a budget since Congress cannot. My numbers are off the top of my head. I feel they are in a realistic range and too bad I cannot hand them to the CBO for a bit of analysis.

And I do not know if this is truly original, yet I feel comfortable supporting it.

Fall is coming which means the State Fair of Texas is about to start. If you get the chance, come on by. I will admit the fried food craze for the fair is out of hand, yet overall it is still a great event too attend.  

Finally on this Sunday of Repentance readings I need to ask forgiveness from Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Congress, Putin, The media, The One percenters, the greedy, all the truly hard working people in Washington D.C, you the reader for my not keeping my goal of trying to be positive, and probably millions of others for some reason or another. Being critical is easy, accomplishing good is the goal.

Have a great week all.