Talk is cheap. Especially in politics.

The reality is that over the last three years, the Democrats and the Republicans have taken $305 billion that was paid in FICA tax (Social Security taxes) and they have used those to pay for other expenditures by the federal government. Now both major parties are talking about a lock box for the future, but neither one of them has had a lock box mentality throughout the decade of the 1990's.

On top of that, both Bush and Gore continue to support taxing the American people on their Social Security benefits. My view is that, if people have paid Social Security taxes all of their lives, they shouldn't be required to pay a penny in taxes on benefits they receive from Social Security.

My objective would be complete privatization of the Social Security system, after we have honored commitments to the people now in the system who have a justifiable expectation of getting the money for which they have paid.

We will get rid of the FICA tax, which is the worst tax of all. It poses an especially heavy burden on young families and on small businesses. It pressures small business people and farmers to hire people outside of the regular payroll as independent contractors. The fact is that if you are hired as a independent contractor , you don't get retirement benefits, you don't get health insurance, you don't get a lot of other things. You don't have the kind of job security that usually comes if you're on the payroll.

With the extra money people will be allowed to keep, that they otherwise would have been forced to give to the government, they can find a better retirement program then the government has ever provided. Even money put in a passbook account in the bank will do better than that which they would get under the government Social Security system. On top of that, people can all get a pay raise, because the employer as well as the employee pays Social Security tax on employee wages.

Click here to view the Constitution Party candidate profile for Howard Phillips

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(Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)   (10/11/00)