Source: Washington Post
by David Von Drehle
“The demographic studies and actuarial charts were correct, and the explosion is nigh. The question is what to do about it, and, more perplexing, who will do it. There’s nothing complicated about the options. One is to raise more revenue, either by hiking the 7.65 percent payroll tax … or by increasing the amount of income subject to the tax. The first of these options is regressive, striking hardest at those who earn the least. The second would add to the burden of high-salary workers who already shoulder the biggest tax load …. Another choice is to further raise the age of eligibility for benefits …. A third solution is to increase the number of workers paying into the system. But this cuts against the current political mood, because the quickest and surest way of growing the workforce is through easy immigration.” (06/23/25)