An overwhelming 77% of registered voters in seven key states likely to decide the 2024 presidential election are in favor of a billionaire tax to save Social Security, the latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll finds.
Voters in these swing states are also open to several other ideas that lean heavily on the ultra-rich to keep Social Security solvent for decades.
Conducted April 8-15, 4,969 voters were queried in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
More than half are in favor of scaling back benefits for high earners and for taxing wages above the first $168,600 in earnings, which is the current cap.
One-third are in favor of less generous Social Security benefits, and 25% support raising the full retirement age from 67 to 69.
“A lot of people want the government to take action, but they’re not really sure how,” says Matt Monday, senior manager for Morning Consult. “But the things that they do feel sure about is that someone else [billionaires] should do it.”
The Social Security Trust Fund will only be able to pay recipients 75% of their promised benefits starting in 2034, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates.
Former President Donald Trump has said that cutting out waste and fraud in government spending is one way to safeguard the future of Social Security and Medicare benefits.
“I will never do anything that will jeopardize or hurt Social Security or Medicare,” Trump said last month. “We'll have to do it elsewhere. But we're not going to do anything to hurt them.”
President Joe Biden has proposed a billionaire’s tax of 25% on households worth more than $100 million and higher payroll taxes on those making more than $400,000.
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