Social Security is a very complicated issue and often provokes very heated views. The program was set up outside the regular budget with its own "trust fund" and its own revenue stream from a separate payroll tax to guard it as much as possible from the future whims of Congress. It is not a true insurance program in that it is actually the contributions of today's workers who are paying the benefits to today's retirees; they in turn will be receiving benefits paid for by tomorrows workers. It is probably the most carefully thought out, successful, and useful program ever created in the US. There are many reasonable solutions to the future minor problems of SS such as simply including all income in the payroll tax and raising or eliminating the taxable income cutoff.
If the payroll tax is eliminated, the only other source of revenue to pay benefits is the general fund and this puts the whole program subject to the whims of any new Congress and removes all stability from the program. Far better and safer to simply send out checks to everyone from the general fund as has already been done and is now being considered for extension or repeat.
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