Tony Zirkle for Congress

Visitor #46522

Taxes and Social Security Reform

Press Release: Taxes and Social Security

1. Campaign Update

One of the main purposes of my campaign has been to increase the quality of political debate beyond mere image, sound bites and who has the most money so that we could focus on who has the best ideas. I’ve found that getting the attention of the press has been more difficult than I hoped. Many members of the media in the 12 counties in this district have been fair and balanced in printing some of my press release positions, and I am thankful for them. Others have limited resources, so I have not yet been able to secure coverage of several other media outlets even with repeated, monthly visits, and I am concerned that a high percentage of primary voters will learn my name for the first time when they enter the ballot box where they won’t be able to cite even one of my positions.

Therefore, I’m switching gears. I will be picking up 50,000 fliers tomorrow from the printer and will begin my mass flier distribution campaign. I’m going to hit as many newspaper boxes as I can between now and May 4. Since I am self-funding this low budget campaign (I’ve had one $200 that was unsolicited), I have to be frugal with my money. I will be looking into the costs for mailing these fliers to all the registered republicans. I am also looking into securing a couple slots for 30 or 60 second tv ads. I’m still considering keeping my total campaign expenditures below $5,000 because that is the thresh hold level for when FEC filing requirements kick in. I heard a horror story of what happened to a previous congressional candidate who ran against the party favorite in the primary. He missed a deadline by one day and was fined tens of thousands of dollars. That would send me financially off the deep end, so I have to be careful here. I believe so strongly that I am the best candidate that I’m very tempted to use the $100,000 or so in unused credit cards that I have to win this primary, so I probably should withdraw before I cave to that pressure. However, I would miss the remaining speaking opportunities left in this primary and the chance to win this “Hail, Mary” campaign that many think is impossible to win. Columbus took a chance.

If I’m going to increase the quality of political debate, I believe I should have substantive positions on the following two additional issues:

1. Taxes

Calling for making President Bush’s tax cuts “permanent” is misleading. No Congress can bind a future one on tax policy outside of a constitutional amendment. I would vote to “extend” the tax cuts on the middle class. I am for the middle class and I will seek to raise the valleys of poverty and level the mountains of super excess wealth whenever reasonable.

This issue of how to tax the top 1% of incomes is one of the major differences between me and Congressman Chocola. The progressive billionaire tax rate used to be 96%. We once had a policy in this nation to have a strong middle class and to discourage excess wealth that could create an entrenched aristocracy of multi-billionaires. When it comes to taxing incomes over $200,000, I would not vote to extend the top rate at 35% on the top 1% of incomes unless the tax code is modified in at least one of the following two ways:

a. to focus more on wealth than income. For instance, I will seek to make a flat tax on those have a acquired a lifetime taxable income of $10,000,000 at 50%, of $100,000,000 at 60%, of $1,000,000,000 at 70% and of $10,000,000,000 at 80%. I would also support a constitutional amendment to limit personal wealth to one billion dollars which would prohibit anyone inheriting more than that level of wealth;

b. to re-instituted the payroll tax for that portion of incomes over $200,000. The payroll tax of 15.3% (employer and employee combined) is paid on all incomes up to $87.900. 12.4% of that is for social security and 2.9% is for medicare. The Clinton Administration made the 2.9% applicable to all incomes without a limit. I propose to preserve the payroll social security tax holiday for incomes between $87,900 and $200,000. I would re-apply it to the top 1% of incomes and use that money to take the catastrophic medical claims out of the system so that we can have affordable health insurance for all. My plan’s goal would be to limit insurance liability to $30-50,000 a year which reduce family medical coverage premiums from around $11,000 a year to about $3,000 a year so that even a minimum wage earner could have a reasonable chance of purchasing health insurance. I believe that anyone who works 40 hours a week deserves affordable health insurance. I have had to pay the payroll tax on every penny I’ve ever earned in my entire life, as most people have had to do. After having $112,100 in social security tax-free income, the top 1% of wage earners can afford to contribute their share so that we can reduce the costs of medical insurance.

Capital gains tax cuts have gone overboard. Billionaires who do not work but simply invest are now paying a lower tax rate (15%) than minimum-wage earners who pay not only the 15.3% payroll tax but also their marginal rates. I would not extend the 15% capital gains rates for high incomes.

2. Social Security

According to one estimate, medicare will go broke by 2019 and social security by 2042. It is now estimated that only 73% of social security benefits will be available by 2042. It wouldn’t surprise me if we find that these numbers were underestimated in the same way the prescription drug bill costs were. Therefore, we need to act now if we are going to deliver anything close to what we have promised.

When social security was started, life expectancy was 62. Full benefits kicked in at life expectancy plus 3 or age 65 if you could live that long. Life expectancy has gone up 11 years to age 73, but the age for full benefits for younger workers has increased by only 2 years. I believe it is reasonable to make full benefits start at life expectancy minus 3 or at about age 70 which will be gradually increased for those under age 50. This policy will go a long way in preserving the safety net that social security was meant to be. Social security was not intended to be extra spending cash for the Las Vegas one armed bandit slot machines.

Additionally, I would support a reasonable plan to establish a wealth/means/income test for full benefits. Granting full benefits to billionaires is inconsistent with the safety net philosophy.

By instituting these two major reforms, we will not only be able to preserve many of the promised benefits, but also we will be able to consider exempting the first $5,000-$10,000 from the payroll tax to end its regressive nature and to reduce the burdens on employers. With my current limited resources, I can not give exact numbers on how much we could afford to exempt.

Many politicians are afraid to touch social security, this “third rail” of U.S. politics. I am banking on the belief that grandparents care far more about the future of their grandchildren than these politicians give them credit for. We can not live in denial about the jeopardy that social security is in and we must have the courage to act now. We spend ten times as much money on seniors as we do on children. I have entitle my campaign committee “It’s the Kids, Smartie” because I believe we need to devote more attention to the future and those who will inherit our land.

Should you wish to be removed from future press releases, please contact me at Campaign@TonyZirkle.com or by cell phone at 219 308-1673.

Respectfully,
Tony Zirkle
IN Dist. 2 Republican Congressional Candidate