Payments for Social Security benefits will end by the middle of 2023 if President Donald Trump were able to deliver on his promise of permanently cutting payroll taxes, and if another funding source was not provided to replace it, according to an estimate from the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration.

SocialSecurityWorks.org

Reprinted from SocialSecurityWorks.org

(Washington, DC) — The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works, in response to Donald Trump’s press conference in which he promised to “terminate” FICA contributions, Social Security’s dedicated revenue, if he is reelected:

“Donald Trump once promised that he would be ‘the only Republican that doesn’t want to cut Social Security.’ We now know that what he meant is that cutting Social Security doesn’t go far enough for him: He wants to destroy Social Security.

Donald Trump’s executive order, which seeks to defer Social Security contributions, is bad enough. But his promise to ‘terminate’ FICA contributions if he is reelected is a full-on declaration of war against current and future Social Security beneficiaries.

Social Security is the foundation of everyone’s retirement security. At a time when pensions are vanishing and 401ks have proven inadequate, Trump’s plan to eliminate Social Security’s revenue stream would destroy the one source of retirement income that people can count on. Moreover, Social Security is often the only disability insurance and life insurance that working families have. If reelected, Trump plans to destroy those benefits as well.

Every member of Congress must speak up now to denounce Donald Trump’s unconstitutional raid on Social Security. Voters should treat any Senator or Representative who is silent as complicit in destroying Social Security. Furthermore, every American who cares about Social Security’s future must do everything they can to ensure that Trump does not get a second term.” ■

Social Security Works is a non-profit organization that aims to protect and improve the economic security of disadvantaged and at-risk populations;     Safeguard the economic security of those dependent, now or in the future, on Social Security; and Maintain Social Security as a vehicle of social justice.