Dirty Little Secret

A plan for cutting Social Security taxes exposes the true size of the deficit

Now that the "evil empire" has become the beleaguered empire, nothing scares Washington more than the specter of a battle over Social Security. Even the subtlest effort to tinker with this most sacrosanct of federal benefit programs ignites the rage of senior citizens, whose lobbying groups are among the most feared in the nation. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan's proposal to cut the Social Security payroll tax and stop using the enormous funds it generates to disguise the size of the federal budget deficit is anything but subtle. It is so explosive that Republicans and Democrats alike are running from the idea...

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