Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Private Accounts Question?
Call Me Stupid, But...
Ok, so the President may be pushing private accounts as part of larger social security reform cuts...er...reform. That's all fine a good. Private accounts could yield a higher return on investment, thus negating the impact of future benefit cuts. But he's what sticks in my craw...so to speak.
When the President talks about private accounts, he mentions that individuals will be able to put up to 2% or so of their 6% FICA tax into a government managed private account. Which begs the question, why does the government have to manage it?
I'm supposing that the choice would be limited to a select number of funds? The administrative costs for tracking 140 million accounts is likely to be staggering. Couldn't we just cut the individual FICA tax by 2% and let me choose where to invest it? The IRS could require that I show proof of such an investment and impose penalties for non-compliance...like a 4% of income penalty tax.
Doesn't that seem like a better way, a more Republican way to go about this...giving true power and responsibility to the individual? Oh, but I forget...It's a new kind of Republicanism now...One that likes big government programs....
Ok, so the President may be pushing private accounts as part of larger social security reform cuts...er...reform. That's all fine a good. Private accounts could yield a higher return on investment, thus negating the impact of future benefit cuts. But he's what sticks in my craw...so to speak.
When the President talks about private accounts, he mentions that individuals will be able to put up to 2% or so of their 6% FICA tax into a government managed private account. Which begs the question, why does the government have to manage it?
I'm supposing that the choice would be limited to a select number of funds? The administrative costs for tracking 140 million accounts is likely to be staggering. Couldn't we just cut the individual FICA tax by 2% and let me choose where to invest it? The IRS could require that I show proof of such an investment and impose penalties for non-compliance...like a 4% of income penalty tax.
Doesn't that seem like a better way, a more Republican way to go about this...giving true power and responsibility to the individual? Oh, but I forget...It's a new kind of Republicanism now...One that likes big government programs....
