Social Security Review of Options (3.4)

Social Security Policy: Increasing the payroll tax percentage

Tax Adjustment (increases revenues collected from workers and employers to fund the system)

Social Security Policy: Reducing the taxable wage cap

Neither (this lowers the threshold of earnings subject to taxation, reducing revenue rather than acting as a tax increase or benefit cut)

Social Security Policy: Lowering Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA)

Benefit Reduction (slows the growth rate of annual benefit checks below inflation)

Social Security Policy: Increasing computation years from 35 to 40 for average lifetime earnings

Benefit Reduction (includes five additional zero-earning or lower-earning years into the average, reducing the resulting monthly benefit)

Social Security Policy: Decreasing the normal retirement age from 67 to 65

Neither (this is a benefit expansion that increases total payouts)

Social Security Policy: Raising the payroll tax rate by 1%

Tax Adjustment (directly boosts the rate of payroll tax revenue flowing into the trust fund)

Social Security Policy: Eliminating the taxable maximum cap on earnings

Tax Adjustment (subjects all high-income earnings above the cap to Social Security payroll taxes, raising program revenue)

Social Security Policy: Increasing the minimum benefit for low-income earners

Neither (this expands benefits for lower-income recipients rather than cutting costs or adjusting taxes)

Social Security Policy: Paying out less to higher earners subject to the tax cap

Benefit Reduction (curtails future monthly payout amounts for high earners)

Social Security Policy: Broadening the payroll tax base

Tax Adjustment (brings additional forms of worker compensation under payroll taxation)

Social Security Policy: Increasing the normal retirement age from 67 to 69

Benefit Reduction (delays the age for receiving full benefits and deepens early claiming penalties)

Social Security Policy: Mandating coverage for all newly hired state and local government employees

Tax Adjustment (expands the pool of contributing wage earners to bring in new payroll tax revenue)

Social Security Policy: Price-indexing initial benefits instead of wage-indexing

Benefit Reduction (since wages typically outpace prices, indexing to inflation yields lower starting benefit checks over time)

Social Security Policy: Eliminating the tax deductibility of employer fringe benefits

Tax Adjustment (converts untaxed fringe benefits into taxable compensation, expanding tax collections)

Social Security Policy: Making the benefit formula more progressive by reducing higher-earner replacement rates

Benefit Reduction (reduces overall program outlays by curtailing benefits paid to upper-income retirees)

Social Security Policy: Increasing Cost-of-Living Adjustments (COLA)

Neither (this acts as a benefit expansion by providing higher post-retirement inflation increases)