Payroll tax cuts – Are we really robbing the Social Security Piggy Bank?

The current status of the Social Security Trust Fund   Our left-leaning friends are often quite surprised at our position on continuing the payroll tax cuts. The reasoning goes something like this, “you call yourself a fiscal conservative yet you want to keep on raiding the social security trust fund?  I just can’t believe you would do that!”

What most fail to understand is that, by any definition, there hasn’t been a trust fund since the 1960s. All the so-called trust funds are deposited into Washington’s general fund and spent even before they arrive. Clients can email us for specifics on how the accounting chicanery works.

The important thing to remember is that when you stand for tax cuts you are (albeit indirectly) forcing the government to live within its means by making them cut spending to do so. A tax increase of a dollar historically causes the deficit spending to increase by 3 dollars.

For those who would like a visual aid on how the so-called trust fund works vs. another governmental plan that is actuarially sound and a great benefit to its recipients, we offer the following. 

Trust Fund Illustration