Former President Donald Trump’s campaign plans will significantly hasten the already looming date when Social Security’s funding is expected to run out. The nonpartisan budget group made the announcement Monday..
President Trump’s policies will make government programs popular and dependent on them. millions of older Americansthe research group found, will be insolvent in six years and its current schedule will be reduced by one-third.
According to US Budget Watch 2024, a project of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the Republican candidates’ proposals would widen Social Security’s cash gap by trillions of dollars and lead to even deeper benefit cuts in the coming years.
“President Trump’s campaign proposal would dramatically worsen Social Security financing,” the CRFB budget group said in a blog post.
The Trump campaign strongly objected to the post.
“CRFB’s so-called experts have been consistently wrong for years,” spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a statement to CNBC.
Mr. Levitt said Mr. Trump “will continue to strongly protect Social Security in his second term.” She argues that Democratic candidate Kamala Harris poses a real threat to the program’s solvency, saying her policies will lead to a massive influx of illegal immigrants and “distort and collapse Social Security.” He claimed to be deaf.
Only certain non-citizens be eligible to qualify For Supplemental Security Income Benefits.
According to the Social Security Trust Fund, it is scheduled to be depleted by fiscal year 2034. Congressional Budget Office. The fiscal year begins in October.
The Social Security Administration Board estimates that the program’s combined funds may not be able to pay full benefits until 2035. But the trust fund that Social Security relies on to pay retirement benefits could be depleted even sooner, in 2033.
Both President Trump and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, have vowed to “protect” Social Security and Medicare, and oppose cuts.
At the same time, President Trump vowed to enact an expanded list of tax cuts for key groups of Americans.
He proposed eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits for the elderly, eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay for service workers, further lowering corporate tax rates, and imposing full tariffs on imported goods. are.
CRFB said in a post Monday that President Trump’s tax cut plan and his promise to carry out mass deportations soon after taking office “will widen Social Security’s cash deficit.”
Specifically, the group found that his agenda was:
- Increase Social Security’s 10-year shortfall by $2.3 trillion by FY2035.
- Accelerate the bankruptcy schedule from FY2034 to FY2031.
- Causes a 33% across-the-board benefit reduction in 2035 (up from the 23% cut currently planned by CBO).
- In 2035, the annual shortfall will increase by approximately 50%. and
- To restore Social Security’s 75 years of solvency, it would force current benefits to be cut by about a third or revenues to be increased by about a half.
These findings are surprising given that President Trump’s plan includes tax cuts that would generate significant revenue for the Social Security Trust Fund, said Maria Freeze, senior legislative representative for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. He said it was not something that should be done.
“If you cut income taxes and payroll taxes, that’s going to have an impact on Social Security,” Freese said.
“Depending on the proposals being considered, it could have a dramatic impact over time, especially if the trust fund is due to be depleted in 10 years anyway,” she said.
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare endorsed Harris as a presidential candidate.
“I don’t think the Trump campaign is trying to undermine Social Security,” said Andrew Biggs, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former deputy chief of staff at the Social Security Administration. “I don’t think that’s what they have in mind because they’re putting out different proposals.”
He said certain proposals, such as eliminating taxes on benefits and certain types of income, would directly impact Social Security, but other policies, such as curbing immigration, would also affect the Social Security program.
“This is such a large program that any policy that changes the economy or the tax code is likely to have some impact on Social Security,” Biggs said. “Likewise, Social Security is so big that any changes to Social Security will affect everything else.”
As the date for Social Security’s funding to run out approaches, both sides are likely to provide more details on how they will reform the program, he said.
