Administration: Social Security Fix May Require Tax Hike, Benefit Cuts
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration said in a new report yesterday that Social Security is facing a $13.6 trillion shortfall and that delaying reforms is not fair to younger workers.
A report issued by the Treasury Department said some combination of benefit cuts and tax increases will need to be considered to permanently fix the funding shortfall. But White House officials stressed that President Bush remains opposed to raising taxes. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he hoped the new report would help find common ground on the politically divisive issue, but a key Democrat charged that the administration still would try to fix Social Security by imposing sharp benefit reductions.
“The administration’s new report is a reminder of President Bush’s determination to not only privatize Social Security but to make deep cuts in the benefits that American workers have earned,” the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, a Democrat of Nevada, said. “Nobody should be fooled into believing that the only way to save Social Security is to destroy it with privatization or deep benefit cuts.”
