FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, February 16th 2016
Contact: Linda Benesch, lbenesch@socialsecurityworks.org
Sanders, Warren and Wyden Headline Press Conference Marking the Day Millionaires Stop Paying into Social Security
(Washington, DC) Today, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) along with Representatives Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Paul Tonko (D-NY) joined Social Security advocates for a press conference marking the day millionaires stop paying into Social Security, and called for the wealthiest to pay their fair share into Social Security so that we can protect and expand the program’s modest benefits.
Video of the event is available here.
During the event, Senator Sanders and Rep. DeFazio introduced the Social Security Expansion Act, which would protect and expand Social Security and pay for it by applying the payroll tax to income above $250,000 as well as applying a 6.2% Social Security tax to investment income for high-income households. Reps. Schakowsky and Tonko are also co-sponsors of the bill.
In addition, the Center for American Progress released a new report on how rising earnings inequality hurts Social Security. The Center for Economic and Policy Research released a calculator people can use to determine when an individual stops paying into Social Security (for Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, it’s January 8th) and a paper on who pays if we raise the Social Security payroll tax cap.