{"id":6778,"date":"2026-08-14T12:37:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T12:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6778"},"modified":"2026-08-14T12:37:03","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T12:37:03","slug":"opinion-a-balanced-approach-to-social-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6778","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: A balanced approach to Social Security"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I landed my first real, albeit minimum wage job at the tender age of 15, and one of my lasting memories was how the paycheck came with a boatload of deductions.<\/p>\n

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Money was withheld for federal and local income taxes, of course, but there was one category for which teen me was not prepared \u2014 some kind of \u201cinsurance\u201d payment. I was curious.<\/p>\n

Turns out this was my\u00a0Social Security\u00a0withholding, a percentage of my pay that would one day help finance my retirement. I paid a share, and my employer paid the same. Today, that percentage is set at 6.2% of wages up to $176,100 (as of last year). I still pay \u2014 but I\u2019m a whole lot closer to finally getting a return on that investment.<\/p>\n

Or am I? In case you haven\u2019t heard, Social Security faces\u00a0insolvency. If not addressed by 2032, Social Security benefits could be cut by 22%. Given the average retirement benefit is now slightly under\u00a0$2,100 a month, that\u2019s a pretty scary prospect.<\/p>\n

The solutions are varied, but they really come down to two choices \u2014 reduce benefits or raise payroll taxes. There are pros and cons to both. But I\u2019d like to modestly suggest one principle that should be followed when the folks in Congress get off their posteriors and address this important, if politically fraught, topic: no means testing for retirement benefits.<\/p>\n

Not sure what that is? Good for you. You are probably closer to my innocent teen self and aren\u2019t really paying close attention. But it comes down to this: Don\u2019t rebalance Social Security by choosing to reduce or eliminate benefits for people who are above a certain income level. In other words, the rich deserve to get their $2,000 or whatever a month, too.<\/p>\n

Still, you may be thinking: Don\u2019t most government benefit programs have means testing of some kind? We don\u2019t give SNAP EBT cards to millionaires. And higher-income Social Security recipients are already paying more taxes for those benefits (just as they do on earned income). So what\u2019s the difference?<\/p>\n

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A big one. There\u2019s a reason why Social Security was set up under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a\u00a0social insurance program\u00a0(whether for retirement or disability). Your contributions are premiums. It\u2019s a protection against income loss in retirement. This is a vital distinction because it means we\u2019re all in this together: If you paid, you are covered. And the more you pay, the greater coverage you have. It\u2019s what has made Social Security such a beloved and universal program. We\u2019re all in it together.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m not the only person who looks at it this way. AARP (the advocacy group formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons)\u00a0strongly champions\u00a0this position. Their main argument is that it would erode public support for Social Security and its \u201cprinciple of universality.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to suggest the federal government should not expect greater sacrifice from the wealthy when it comes to financing government generally. One obvious Social Security fix is to raise the cap on high earners. That\u2019s fair. Another might be to delay full retirement age beyond the current 67. And, naturally, the sooner these choices are made, the better.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that keeping the original Social Security compact and treating contributions as a form of insurance premium is essential. Let\u2019s not break that promise \u2014 or turn the program into an administrative nightmare that might ultimately prove its undoing for all.<\/p>\n

Peter Jensen is an editorial writer at The Baltimore Sun.\u00a0\u00a92026 Baltimore Sun. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Preserving universality through shared sacrifice is essential to keeping Social Security solvent for everyone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nOpinion: A balanced approach to Social Security - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6778\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opinion: A balanced approach to Social Security - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Preserving universality through shared sacrifice is essential to keeping Social Security solvent for everyone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=6778\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-14T12:37:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6778#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6778\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Opinion: A balanced approach to Social Security\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-14T12:37:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6778\"},\"wordCount\":656,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6778#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/37acdaa3dbe4899c03f41012b024876b.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6778#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6778\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=6778\",\"name\":\"Opinion: A balanced approach to Social Security - 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