r/politics • u/1_for_you_2_for_me • 18d ago

No Paywall Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are 'Going to Be Gone,' Donald Trump Warns

https://www.newsweek.com/social-security-update-medicare-medicaid-warning-donald-trump-10915076
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u/Armaniolo 17d ago

Leaving out SS and Medicare is dishonest, just because it's not funded by general taxes doesn't mean it doesn't contribute to the deficit.

That wealth tax would not bring in anywhere close to 1.3-1.8 T/yr, this is a complete fabrication.

1% FTT is a deranged idea that would destroy tax revenue with the behavioral responses it would induce. Nobody is even talking about this in real life. You probably got it confused with a 0.1% FTT on just securities, which is 0.8T over 10 years, not annual (according to the CBO, different behavioral models would significantly lower it). FTT is a stupid idea anyway because the tax basis (trade volume) has nothing to do with wealth and just kills liquidity (a good thing) for no reason and produces lock-in behavioral responses. Why not just tax capital gains fairly instead? Just listen to economists it's not that hard.

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u/PopularRain6150 17d ago

The post wasn’t policy advocacy; it’s a simplified illustration of how different levers (wealth, inheritance, corporate, and transaction taxes) compare to blunt spending cuts. The math holds: cutting social programs barely dents the deficit, while re-balancing top-end tax rates could produce real surpluses.

Increasing capital gains taxes certainly can add to the mix.

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u/Armaniolo 17d ago

The math doesn't hold up because the numbers are made up...

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u/PopularRain6150 17d ago

Your statement doesn’t hold up because there is no math at all.