Taxes and Private Accounts

7 December 2004

Sen. Graham's only point in his comment was and I have heard say this, is that for reform to pass we all must sacrifice.For republicans this means swallowing the tax cap increase and for Democrats this means the personal accounts.

The other reason for the tax cap increase is to fund the $1.1 trilion dollar transition cost of the program. Graham does not wantwant to borrow the money because it balloons the fedearl and places a greater burden on future generations to pay off the debt plus interest. The debt is already large enough.

The reason he speaks about raising taxes only "on the rich." is a manipulation of the Democrat lexicon. How many times did we here Sen. Kerry say during the camapign that we neede to roll back the tax cuts on the top 2% of Americans? I think it is a pretty bright move. Talk like they do to get them on board. This is a strategy and not a reason.

I differ with you on the amoutnt the way I understand it the plan takes 4% of the payroll taxes put in to the system and moves them to a personal account. Individuals who are not self employed currently pay a 6.2% tax, so 4% of this would be diverted. So a person that earns $75,000 contributes $4,650 in payrolltaxes annually. Under Graham's Plan they would contribute $186 to a personal account and therefore would not be affected by the annual cap of $1300. This is just my understanding. However, I would appreciate if you could ecplain to me where and how you got your figures. Thank you.

Judy Kratochvil

Response to \"Lindsey Graham's Talk of Higher Taxes Endangers Social Security Reform\", Jack Kemp in Human Events Online