Mitt Romney gave a misleading answer to a question about Social Security during a feisty exchange with a heckler in Iowa. He said payroll taxes take 15.3 percent "out of your earnings," but only the self-employed pay that rate. All other workers pay half of that, with the other half being paid for by the employer. The Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor also said that the payroll tax rate would have to go up to 44 percent to pay for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, if no changes are made in the programs. (He mistakenly added Medicaid to the list of programs funded by payroll taxes.) But what he didn't say is that the payroll tax wouldn't reach 44 percent until 2075, and even then it is largely driven by Medicare — not Social Security, which was the subject of the question. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office put out a report this month saying that Social Security payroll taxes would have to be raised from a total of 12.4 percent to 14 percent in order to keep Social Security in balance for the next 75 years.
Click for Full Text!
