During the presidential campaign of 2020 President Joe Biden backed a plan that would increase Social Security benefits by increasing Social Security taxes on individuals who earn more than $400,000, but since becoming president Biden has not addressed the plan and that could change later this year.
Biden’s first priority, and rightfully so, was the COVID-19 relief package that passed and now he is focusing on an infrastructure plan that has seemed to stall in Congress. What else is new? If some sort of infrastructure plan is passed or it is determined to be too difficult to pass, the president may turn his attention in a different direction and that direction could be a Social Security increase.
As a reminder, this story from CNBC is a good refresher as to what Biden had previously backed as a plan that would increase Social Security benefits.
As expected, any Republican support for an increase in taxes, even if it is only high income earners making over $400,000 annually, is nonexistent, but Social Security beneficiaries are a huge portion of the public and deciding to ignore calls for an increase in benefits could be politically foolish for some Republicans. Standing against a proposal to increase benefits, which are already too modest, so that lawmakers can protect individuals making over $400,000 does not seem like a wise decision with another national election coming up in 2022.
We should see in the next couple of months if Biden and Democrats in Congress plan to do anything about Social Security. Unfortunately there seems to be an endless number of things that need to be addressed, so there is hope by Social Security advocates that a Social Security increase does not get lost in the shuffle.
