Demonstrators showing support for Social Security congregated near the Administration’s Rice Lake office on Thursday to promote the agency and benefits, and advocate for changes on behalf of retired Americans.
The Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans President Ross Winklbauer and Executive Director Alex Brower organized the roadside demonstration along Knapp Street at the Bear Paw Avenue intersection.
The Alliance is part of the union movement and has launched a Save Social Security statewide campaign, which is soon to go national.
The demonstrators called upon elected officials to support Social Security to keep it strong for future generations so that it’s available to everyone when they retire, Brower said. The entitlement program should be protected, expanded and modernized.
But not all legislators are on board and want to see changes that include lowering benefits and raising the age of retirement. Brower noted that U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has suggested Social Security funding be discretionary and a vote taken on it by Congress every year.
“We don’t agree with that,” Brower said. “We actually think the benefits that Social Security recipients receive should increase because people have worked their entire lives … when people put in hard work their entire lifetime, they deserve a dignified retirement.”
Carolyn Kaiser of Eau Claire joined the demonstrators and is a member of the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans Board of Directors. She reminded people of survivor’s benefits paid out to children in the case a parent has died or is disabled.
“If your spouse dies it’s a nice thing to have a little bit of stability for your children,” Kaiser said.
Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans works across the aisle, but Republicans are against a proposal by President Joe Biden that could relieve the solvency woes of Social Security, Winklbauer said.
Social Security caps the amount of earnings subject to taxation, and this year the amount is $168,600. The tax rate is 6.2% for employees and employers each.
Biden’s proposal would keep the cap — which is recalculated every year — and no one would pay in after the $168,600 threshold until their earnings reached $400,000. Then they would start paying in again.
The “ultra rich” are done paying into Social Security 19 seconds into the new year, Winklbauer said, while the average person pays for their entire annual income.
Under Biden’s proposal, everybody would be paying their fair share and “Social Security would be solvent forever,” Winklbauer said.
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