Is President-Elect Donald Trump Going to Change Social Security? History Couldn't Be Any Clearer.

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

63% : "Trump's proposal to eliminate the taxation of Social Security benefits would almost certainly be met with thunderous applause from the populace.
62% : Strengthening Social Security for current and future generations will require action from elected officials -- and this includes President-elect Donald Trump.
60% : US Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund Assets at End of Year data by YCharts.President-elect Donald Trump wants to change Social SecurityWhile most lawmakers tend to avoid proposing changes to Social Security, presidential candidates don't have this luxury.
59% : In each of the last 85 years, the Social Security Board of Trustees has released a report that analyzes the financial health of Social Security.
58% : In an informal poll conducted by nonpartisan senior advocacy group The Senior Citizens League, more than 90% of respondents believe Social Security benefits shouldn't be taxable income.
57% : The Trustees Report estimates that taxing benefits will generate just shy of $944 billion in cumulative income for Social Security between 2024 and 2033.
56% : Since 2002, national pollster Gallup has surveyed retirees annually to decipher how important the income they receive from Social Security is.
55% : Based on the 2024 Trustees Report, Social Security is contending with an unfunded obligation shortfall of $23.2 trillion through 2098.
55% : Amending Social Security requires 60 votes in the Senate, and the last time either party held a supermajority (60 seats) in the upper house was in 1979.
52% : This is the last major bipartisan overhaul of Social Security, and it, among other things, introduced the taxation of benefits to raise additional revenue.
51% : Former President and President-elect Donald Trump giving remarks.
51% : For four decades, the Trustees Report has warned that Social Security's income collection in the 75 years following the release of a report would be insufficient to cover outlays -- "outlays" primarily being benefits, and to a far lesser extent the fees used by the Social Security Administration to oversee the program.
50% : Although President-elect Donald Trump is highly unlikely to change Social Security, history does tell us that lawmakers have a knack for resolving crises with America's leading retirement program in the eleventh hour.As noted, lawmakers came to Social Security's rescue in 1983 by raising revenue (introducing the taxation of benefits and gradually increasing the payroll tax) and reducing outlays (gradually raising the full retirement age).
47% : In July, the now-president-elect posted on his social media platform (Truth Social) that "Seniors should not pay tax on Social Security.
46% : In 1993, the Clinton administration added a second tax tier allowing up to 85% of benefits to be taxed if provisional income surpasses $34,000 for single filers or $44,000 for couples filing jointly.
46% : The first problem the incoming president will encounter is the lack of necessary votes to amend Social Security in the upper house of Congress.
45% : Sweeping Social Security benefit cuts may be in the cards by 2033
41% : Despite previously aiming to steer clear of Social Security policy proposals, Trump did suggest making a major change to America's leading retirement program while on the campaign trail.
34% : While it would be great if lawmakers would be proactive instead of reactive, historic precedent suggests the Capitol Hill stalemate regarding Social Security will continue during Trump's second term.
32% : If history tells us anything, Trump has virtually no chance of enacting changes to Social Security while in office.
27% : The other issue for President-elect Trump is that the change he wants to make to Social Security would actually worsen its financial health.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.