Have you ever asked someone in real life who makes +$100,000 per year about raising the FICA cap?

[NNN0LHI]

Not someone on an anonymous Internet web site. But in real life have you ever broached the subject of doing away with the FICA cap to someone who this would actually effect?

I am all for it because I don't even make a quarter of $100,000. But I have a feeling there are a lot of people who aren't real crazy about this idea. They may not post that on an anonymous public website, but I bet the idea of it really burns some peoples asses. Even some progressive peoples asses.

This subject ever came up around someone making that kind of money you know? If you have, how did they react to that idea?

Don

[Fresh_Start]

1. We reach the FICA cap in the 4th quarter....

I wouldn't object to raising it. It seems to be a sensible solution.

[NNN0LHI]

7. Yea, I hit the cap a few months early a couple times before I retired too

And I feel like you do. But have you ever asked someone who consistently makes say, a couple of hundred grand a year what they thought of the idea? I never have asked anyone in that situation. That is why I asked.

Don

[scheming daemons]

2. I make 104,000.... i have no problem eliminating the cap.

Even though that will affect me soon.

It should be gone.

[CBGLuthier]

3. It takes a very mature human being to want to pay more taxes personally

I broke through the cap one year way back last century. The extra amount did not exactly change my life. Bear in mind the real opposition to raising this tax is from the companies that will have to continue to match the tax. That is who really does not want to remove or raise the cap.

[Skink]

13. Keep it in place for employers on every paycheck and exempt the citizen.

[AngryAmish]

18. As an employer, you look at total compensation, not the net to the employee

I don't pay anyone over the cap (other than myself, of course) but making a "person" exempt is just an illusion. But paying a lower percentage does have appeal.

[Skink]

27. I thought about that later and...

It should be the other way around, cap the employers liability at today's level but remove it for the employee.

[greymattermom]

4. raise the cap

lower the rate

make the break even point around 200K

[mod mom]

5. Our income is over that amount and have no problem ELIMINATING the FICA cap.

[FSogol]

8. Same here. n/t

[mod mom]

19. I wonder what would happen if the 1st 10,000 was exempt and the rest taxed.

[Kber]

6. FWIW, my step-father makes significantly more than that and he's 100% in favor

of raising, or preferably eliminating, the cap. He's also in favor of raising his federal income tax rate to at least 45% if not more.

For the past 20 years of his career (he's close to retirement now), he's generally reported to the CEO of a fortune 500 or 1000 company, so he's done well for himself. He's quick to point out that he went to public schools through graduate school, relied on government grants and loans to fund his education every step of the way, and that his parents would never have been able to pay for college on their own.

He'll also tell you that he's usually the lone democrat on the leadership team. At least he's the lone vocal democrat. And he's generally the only guy (and it's almost always been guys) advocating more social spending, more educational support, and that higher taxes on people like himself are a very small price to pay for a stable, productive society that gives people like him a chance to "make good", if you know what I mean. So while there are exceptions, I'll bet your assumption is more correct than not.

[NNN0LHI]

9. That is encouraging to hear

I wish we could clone your step-father.

Don

[Kber]

23. May not be able to clone him

but he did raise 3 kids who feel that we belong to, and have a responsibility for, a larger community. We all are supposed to do our part. So my 14 year old goes over to clear the debris from our elderly neighbor's property after Irene so that they can at least get their car out of the driveway. My step-dad does the same, but also puts a certain amount of his private money toward college scholarship funds and advocates for higher taxes on those who can afford it.

(Providing inexpensive and high quality education for everyone is kind of his thing since he feels that it was his ticket to a better life.)

[RaleighNCDUer]

10. That might be an interesting thing to bring up

if I KNEW anybody who made 100K+.

I don't move in those circles.

[SoCalDem]

11. FICA should be applied to ALL income.. wages and otherwise

The dirty little secret is that many "upper income" people get a lot of "income" in the guise of "goodies" that may not be cash

[woodsprite]

12. Hubby makes over 100K and he thinks it's stupid that the whole amt isn't taxed. n/t

[sfpcjock]

14. The actual rub will be from people earning $1 million plus, undoubtedly.

Think about it--when are they going to scream? When some power elite-salary person can show that they paid 10 times as much as you did and only received the same benefits.

Social Security benefits are capped at a relatively low level like $1,000/month, are they not?

Even though they scream it has to be. And we must keep SS as a defined benefit, not as welfare. As soon as they turn it into a welfare program with a voucher it can be cut. And, if it can be cut, it WILL be cut. Trust me.

[Bluenorthwest]

20. The max for a 2011 retirement is $2, 366 per month

More funds can mean higher benefits for all earners. The maximum is not a set figure, so the maximum can rise to any level that we can afford to pay. Removing the cap would change the entire paradigm.

[sfpcjock]

24. Good point. Thanks for the numbers.

I agree. Give millionaires the same percentage benefit that everyone else gets and keep the program as it is.

[FreeJoe]

25. I typically hit the cap in Mar/April

I typically hit the cap in Mar/April each year. It's not that I earn 4x the cap, but rather because I get a significant portion of my income in the form of a bonus paid out in the spring.

I'd like to see SS restructured so that we pay for disability and a minimum level of SS through a progressive income tax rather than a regressive payroll tax. For the SS retirement amount about the basic minimum, I think that both the tax level and payouts should be limited.

[wiggs]

15. don't forget, when we talk about raising tax rates or

raising the cap on taxable income we're talking about adjusted gross income.

When someone mentions raising the top income tax rate by 4% on those who earn more than 250,000....we're talking about someone who might really be pulling down substantially more than 250,000. After deductions and adjustments, then, they may pay the same rate you and I do up until 250,000....then just 4% more after that. It's really not as impactful as the gop, the left, and media allow it to sound. ( Not a tax guy, but as an example let's say someone is paid 350,000 per year...a more than nice amount. He deducts and adjusts his way down to 275,000 agi. He might then owe an additional 4% on the 25,000...he owes just 1,000 more than he does now which is already a historic low. That's what the gop is willing to go to the mat for. 1,000 for a well off family.)

Same with FICA wrt adjusted gross income. Someone who might be affected by lifting the cap might be making substantially more than 106,000, gross. If someone makes 200,000 in wages or salary and 20,000 in capital gains, lets say, and adjusts down to 140,000 agi, then he will contribute his share of the contribution (4%?) on the 34,000....he owes another 1,360. That's what the gop is fighting against, willing to default for, willing to demolish SS and medicare for, willing to hold hostage the most vulnerable among us for....so that someone making 220,000 gross doesn't have to pay another 1,360.

Why dems and pundits don't break down the numbers a little better is a mystery. Instead we get pulled into side battles about what rich means, corporate jets, who creates jobs, etc. We've completely lost the accuracy and framing of the discussion. As usual.

[Bluenorthwest]

16. For much of my career, I hovered at and around the cap

and I can tell you the first time I was over the cap and my CPA told me about the cap, I was furious. The only portion of taxes I really wanted to pay was for Social Security, the absurdity of saving me a few bucks in that area struck me hard- at age 23. Every year I paid high taxes, the figure went up and down according to income and expenses and many other things. So 'oh, look, you say a bit here' meant nothing to me. So one year, over the cap, the next under it. Which one had the higher total tax paid? Either one, too many variables.
I've wanted the cap removed since the day I learned it existed. Obama campaigned on the idea, and it was that policy that won my vote in the Primary. It is a simple, excellent idea, and anyone who makes that sort of money and claims to care is just whining and grousing.

[Romulox]

17. Mustn't ask the rich to pay the same amount as the rest of us--might ANGER them!

The number one purpose of government in a "democracy"? Appease the rich! :eyes:

[DURHAM D]

21. I have gone over the cap and would not mind paying more taxes.

However, if you raise the cap you would have to take the cap off (change) the maximum SS payout. I think most people do not realize that SS is regressive on the front end and progressive on the back end. IOWs - the amount paid out is already a better plan for middle and lower income earners and a bad return for upper income earners. That is why many higher earners object to the cap removal - it is an income redistribution program and most, if not all, people who make $100K to $250K don't think of themselves as anything other than middle-class.

The bigger issue in our country is what is not taxed at all. Why keep going after just wage-earners? Go after all types of income/revenue.

[sinkingfeeling]

22. I consistently hit the cap for over 25 years and have no problem eliminating it.

[ItNerd4life]

26. Democrats will say 'sure'. Republicans will say 'no way in hell'. nt