MONTGOMERY, Ala. — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville threw his full support Wednesday behind President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits, telling Alabama Daily News that the program would soon become insolvent.
“All it is is a tax; Americans pay into Social Security all their lives, and when they need it the most, it gets taxed again,” Tuberville told ADN Wednesday during a press call.
“President Trump said he’s going to take the tax off of Social Security, which will help tremendously with a lot of people across this country. President Trump vowed to reform the program, stop the double taxes, and I look forward to working with him on this.”
Tuberville has long criticized the U.S. government’s management of Social Security, which for 89 years has functioned as a tool to provide a financial safety net for retirees. Comments Tuberville made earlier this year about Social Security in a Senate committee hearing, calling it a “scam,” went viral and were widely shared.
Those comments have recently resurfaced after being shared by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and Trump pick for the planned Department of Government Efficiency, as well as by other prominent figures, including U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah.
On his comments resurfacing, Tuberville was happy to restate his concerns with the government program.
“If we don’t do something, (Social Security is) going to run out of money and millions of Americans will never see any of the money that they paid into the federal government,” Tuberville said.
Since 1984, Social Security benefits have been subject to federal income tax. Up to 50% of benefits were initially subject to federal income tax as a result of legislation signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, and later, up to 85% could be taxed as a result of legislation signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
Trump’s pledge, if followed through, would reverse these policies, and thereby exempt all Social Security benefits from federal income tax. The resulting reduction in revenue, however, could lead to the program, which has faced solvency issues for decades, becoming insolvent sooner than initially projected, according to the nonpartisan think tank Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
As of late August, the Congressional Budget Office projects that Social Security will become insolvent by 2034 unless changes to the program are enacted. Leading drivers of the program’s financial struggles are numerous, and include declining birth rates, meaning fewer workers to support retirees, as well the ever-increasing payroll tax cap.
The Social Security payroll tax cap is the maximum amount of an individual’s income that can be taxed for Social Security, and is adjusted annually based on the National Average Wage Index. It has not, however, been adjusted to account for increased income inequality, which since 2013, has been at the highest rate since 1928, meaning a progressively larger share of earnings go untaxed under Social Security. For 2025, the cap will be $176,100, meaning any income beyond that is not subject to Social Security tax.
Tuberville did not address the proposition of eliminating or adjusting the Social Security tax cap when asked by ADN, but did reiterate that some change to the program was needed, quickly, and that he would work with Trump to push forward the elimination of taxing benefits.
“It is a big problem, it is a huge part of our budget every year, but the people pay that money in; they deserve money back,” he told ADN.