A bipartisan pair of senators is calling on Congress to act quickly to shore up the finances of Social Security, the immensely popular old-age program that faces the threat of benefit cuts starting in 2032.
Writing in The New York Times Tuesday, Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren say that the “common-sense solution” to the problem is to eliminate the payroll tax cap, which protects all income above $184,500 from Social Security taxes as of 2026. Moreno and Warren argue that the tax cap is “doubly unfair,” since it allows high earners to pay a lower effective tax rate overall, even as their wages have pulled ahead of other income groups over the last few decades.
Eliminating the tax cap would raise more than $3 trillion over 10 years, extending the solvency of the Social Security program for decades. Doing so would be popular, too, Moreno and Warren note, with majorities of both Democrats and Republicans supporting that approach.
“Social Security was created by overwhelming bipartisan congressional majorities,” the lawmakers write. “Today, members of Congress from both parties must come together again to save it. That’s why the two of us are working together on legislation to remove the cap on Social Security taxes and extend the solvency of our retirement system. Americans deserve nothing less.”