Demand Progress

Senator Bernie Sanders knows that it’s critical to continue the fight to protect Social Security from GOP cuts AND expand Social Security by taxing billionaires like Elon Musk.

Sen. Sanders said, “For almost 90 years, Social Security has, in good times and bad, succeeded in keeping millions of senior citizens out of extreme poverty. We must protect it at all costs.”¹

It’s unacceptable that millionaires and billionaires pay less of a percentage of their income in Social Security taxes than teachers, janitors, and every other working class American. It’s time to end this unfair, outrageous tax loophole for the rich and strengthen one of America’s most important social safety net programs.

Sign the petition: PROTECT Social Security from Republican cuts and EXPAND benefits by taxing millionaires and billionaires.

Teachers, nurses, and customer service workers all pay a greater percentage of their incomes in Social Security taxes than Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. It’s one of the most egregious tax breaks in the broken American tax code. And it’s not sustainable.

The Social Security Board released a report this year concluding that Social Security will have a funding shortfall without tax increases on the rich.² This is a crisis for one of the most important social safety net programs in America.

Big corporate CEOs only pay Social Security taxes at the very beginning of the year — then, their massive salaries roll into their bank accounts without paying into the program. This is not how our tax system should work. And it’s not how a democracy should function.

Sign the petition: Make Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos pay more Social Security taxes than working class Americans. Protect and expand Social Security!

Sources:

1. Senator Bernie Sanders on Twitter, “For almost 90 years, Social Security has, in good times and bad, succeeded...” October 13, 2024.
2. Common Dreams, “Calls to 'Scrap the Cap' Grow as Millionaires Stop Paying Into Social Security for the Year,” February 28, 2023.