# Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust

This bill is designed to shore up Social Security and increase benefits for current and future retirees. Right now, Social Security is facing a funding crisis—experts predict that by 2033, the program will only be able to pay about 80% of promised benefits unless Congress acts. This bill attempts to fix that problem while also making payments more generous.

The main way the bill raises money is by increasing payroll taxes on high earners. Currently, Social Security taxes only apply to the first $168,600 of your income (this number changes yearly). The bill would gradually expand this so that eventually all income above $250,000 gets taxed for Social Security. This means wealthy workers and their employers would pay more into the system. For most people earning under $250,000, nothing changes about their taxes. The bill also gradually raises the overall Social Security tax rate slightly for everyone, but spreads these increases out over many years to soften the impact.

On the benefit side, the bill increases what people receive. It would boost benefits for low-income retirees, people who've been out of the workforce caring for family members, and widows and widowers. It also changes how benefits are calculated to be more generous overall. Additionally, the bill eliminates the "Government Pension Offset," a rule that currently reduces Social Security benefits for people who also receive pensions from government jobs where they didn't pay Social Security taxes.

In practical terms, if this bill passes, most workers would see slightly higher payroll deductions, but retirees—especially those with lower incomes—would receive larger monthly checks. The wealthy would shoulder most of the new tax burden, while the program would have enough money to pay full benefits for decades longer.

Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust

Blumenthal, Richard

Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust This bill makes changes to Social Security benefits, taxes, and other aspects of the program, including by raising the primary insurance amount, increasing the maximum taxable earnings that are subject to Social Security payroll taxes, and requiring Social Security account statements to be mailed unless the individual recipient opts for electronic delivery.