Renee HoyosVerified account

Thanks Mark. Medicare is currently funded by payroll tax. Currently payroll tax is only applied to those making $132,900 or LESS. If we take the cap off of this tax and require all salaries to be taxed, Medicare could be better funded.

You are confusing that with SSI tax which is capped at 132900. Medicare is 1.45 percent up to 200000 (2.9) including employer and .9 for all above 200k. You all are running out of things to tax.

You are right. But why keep the tax so low on the upper incomes?

So low? Wow. Over 200K already pays 35% income tax and over 7.5% FICA and Medicare, that's over 42%. How in the world do you think that's low. And for the record that still wouldn't pay for it. Not even close.

Hey Mark not to get to weedy but you’re mixing apples and oranges here. Assuming a $200K salary, first one finds the gross taxable income which is less than total income. Next, you must use a marginal tax rate to find the rate to pay and it is rarely 35%.

I am not mixing apples and oranges. I am stating 200k net income people are already paying 42.5 percent total tax... isn't that enough? And Medicare is a stressed mess, part A insolvent by 2026. People on SSI get a 2 percent raise and matching rate increase of Medicare takes it

Would you like to see the math? An individual after all the deduction are removed at $200K is being taxed at 28%. And that's if they take only the standard deduction. If they have deductions more than the standard, the rate is lower.

As to insolvency, both Medicare and Social Security are tied to labor. As long as we have labor, these programs will still have a cash flow. Now, are they stressed? Absolutely, which is why we need to lift the cap off of payroll.