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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) was Caught On Tape arguing for Republicans to Cut Social Security and Medicare.
Newly resurfaced footage from Ron DeSantis’s first campaign for the House of Representatives in 2012 shows the now-Governor expressing support for privatizing Social Security and Medicare.
DeSantis made the comments to the St. Augustine Record while running for Congress. “I would embrace proposals like Paul Ryan offered, and other people have offered, that are going to provide some market forces in there, more consumer choice, and make it so that it’s not just basically a system that’s going to bankrupt when you have new people coming into it,” he said. DeSantis referenced policy proposals by Congressman Paul Ryan, who that year was chosen as the Vice Presidential nominee for the GOP ticket alongside Mitt Romney.
By way of background, it is important to keep in mind some key facts about Social Security. Social Security benefits are modest; the average Social Security retirement benefit is $1,172 a month, or about $14,000 a year. Most elderly beneficiaries rely on Social Security for a majority of their income. And as traditional pensions become less common, Social Security will be the only defined-benefit, inflation-protected source of retirement income that most people will have.
Starting from this modest base, Rep. Ryan’s Social Security plan would have cut benefits for future retirees significantly in two ways: (1) reducing benefits for the top 70 percent of wage earners through price-indexing the benefit formula, and (2) reducing benefits at all earnings levels by further increasing Social Security’s full retirement age.
In addition to cutting benefits, Rep. Ryan’s plan would have increased payroll taxes by ending the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance. By themselves, these benefit cuts and the payroll tax increase would be more than sufficient to bring Social Security into financial balance for the next 75 years. However, Rep. Ryan’s plan uses up much of these savings by diverting payroll taxes into private accounts that would impair Social Security’s financial soundness and require transfers from the general fund to assure the program’s solvency.
Although nominally open to all workers, the private accounts would be structured so that only high earners would benefit. The proposal encourages high-wage workers to choose private accounts by making their pay-outs entirely exempt from income taxation, while most of their Social Security benefits would continue to be subject to tax. The Ryan plan would also make the Social Security trust funds responsible for guaranteeing that individuals who opted for private accounts would get back at least as much as they contributed, plus an adjustment for inflation. This guarantee could require Social Security to bail out private accounts when the stock market performed poorly.
Rep. Ryan’s plan would thereby turn Social Security into a two-track system and undermine its broad base of support. Higher earners would choose private accounts. Lower earners would remain in Social Security. The Congressional Budget Office projects that 95 percent of college graduates would ultimately opt for private accounts, but only 5 percent of those who never attended college
Medicare, an $888 billion program in the 2021 federal budget, is primarily funded through general revenues, payroll taxes and healthcare premiums. Social security is funded through deductions taken out of payrolls at 6.2% by both employees and employers, up to a maximum amount of $160,200. Those who employ themselves cover the cost on both ends, paying 12.4%.
DeSantis was elected to the House of Representatives in 2012, representing all of Flagler and St. Johns counties and parts of Volusia and Putnam. He served as a congressman until his successful 2018 bid for Governor. With DeSantis in state government he hasn’t had to submit an opinion on Medicare and Social Security in some time.
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