Social Security Change That Would Impact Millions Backed by Americans

The majority of Americans would support lowering Social Security payments for millions to help solve the program’s upcoming funding crisis, according to a recent survey.
Social Security payments are sent out monthly to seniors during their retirement as well as those living with disabilities across America.
The Social Security Administration is staring down an insolvency crisis as early as the mid 2030s as more Baby Boomers retire into the system and fewer younger workers pay into the program, meaning there might not be enough for full payments unless major reforms are passed.
More From Newsweek Vault: The Latest Social Security COLA Estimate: Will It Be Enough to Keep Pace With Inflation?
While Americans have largely been critical of proposals to cut Social Security benefits, a new report for the Program for Public Consultation at University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy found a majority of Americans would support reducing benefits under very specific circumstances.
In the survey of roughly 4,600 adults, 53 percent said it was “acceptable” to reduce the monthly benefits for the top 40 percent of earners, which the report said would reduce the impending Social Security shortfall by 23 percent.
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, said this reform could still create larger concerns regarding Americans’ trust in the Social Security system.
More From Newsweek Vault: Online Banks vs. Traditional Banks: Learn the Differences
“While it’s always tempting to solve financial problems with a program by cutting costs, lowering benefits for any Social Security recipients—even higher income ones—is a bad decision,” Beene told Newsweek. “Not only is it unfair to those recipients who also paid in, but it does distrust among those unaffected that eventually their benefits will be slashed as well.”
He added: “To be fair, that’s always a possibility. When cuts can come to one sub-group in a larger group, it unfortunately sends the message to some legislators they can do the same to an ever-expanding pool of recipients.”
More From Newsweek Vault: These 9 Types of Low-Risk Investments Offer Maximum Rates
The survey worked by putting respondents in an online policymaking simulation where they learned about different reform ideas for Social Security and their various strengths and weaknesses.
The majority of both Republicans and Democrats surveyed also said they supported increasing the payroll tax and subjecting wages over $400,000 to the payroll tax. Currently, wages subject to that tax are capped at $169,000, but the SSA could have more money available if that was increased.
Nearly 90 percent of both Republicans and Democrats in the swing states also said they supported raising the retirement age to fix the funding crisis, which would solve 15 percent of the benefit shortfall.
Americans were generally in favor of cuts to benefits when phrases like the ‘top 20’ or ‘top 40 percent’ were used, but that changed when other language was used to describe the same policy, said Drew Powers, the founder of Illinois-based Powers Financial Group.
“Once clarifying language was added, such as ‘middle class in high cost of living areas’ or ‘paying into Social Security on the promise of benefits’, the answers were very much against reducing benefits for higher-income retirees,” Powers told Newsweek.
“I think this shows the willingness of Americans to debate and adopt a more complex system of means testing for Social Security. For top earners, Social Security benefits end up being such a small piece of the retirement pie that most would not truly miss the income it provides.”
While most high income earners do not significantly rely on their Social Security benefits, lowering their benefits outright would still likely stir great opposition in America, said Kevin Thompson, a finance expert and the founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group.
“A means test may be necessary to keep Social Security sustainable, but I don’t believe reducing benefits for high-income earners, based on their income percentage, is the right approach,” Thompson told Newsweek. “Many individuals, along with their representatives, would likely oppose such a measure.”