I'm all for helping those in need and having a safety net, but I don't think what you're advocating for is a realistic solution. Social security is in trouble because it was mismanaged - increasing taxes to offset the burden of mismanagement is a half solution, and likely only a temporary fix. Social security (as well as a multitude of other things) is in its current state because we Americans lack the necessary systems/skills/policies to manage it properly.
-Costs already exceed income for trust funds
-Costs will exceed income by 2020 for the entire program
-The OASDI tax rate has been increased 20+ times since Social Security's inception in order to keep the program viable.
Add an inability to even recognize mismanagement.
Therefore it seems to me that the civil servants running Social Security have been doing exactly what they were expected to do so it still isn’t clear to me how they're mismanaging it.
https://socialsecurityworks.org/
https://www.epi.org/ (see https://www.epi.org/research/social-security/)
> Income taxes in America are more progressive than in other rich countries--according to an authoritiative official study which, to my knowledge, has not been contradicted. The OECD's report "Growing Unequal", on poverty and inequality in industrial countries, includes a table that provides two measures of income tax progressivity in 2005.
US Social Security also pays out more than most Western European countries.
In most cases the governments of the day spent all those taxes. And then they borrowed some money and spent that too.
Now the younger generations are paying the piper, while the older generations expect the gravy train to keep chugging along like it’s still 1959.
Taxes for this benefit are capped at $8,240 or 6.2% of salary up to $132,900 [1]. The reason taxes are capped is because benefits are capped. My company could pay a bit more in payroll taxes and they wouldn't care, they'd love to hire 5 more experienced and well compensated engineers like me. There's a similar issue on social security wages - let's say I accumulate $5 million in assets at retirement, I'm going to be earning a pretty good amount of income even when not working, so you could reduce my social security (maybe via extra taxes?). People grumble about that money, "it's mine, I paid for it my whole career" - and you did pay for it in taxes. But things like social security also serve as a crucial part of our weaker societal safety net in America. I want it to be there for people that need it.
I probably won't need it in retirement, but most people will. If I do lose all my money, or say I wasn't as lucky in my life and was hurt or not able to accumulate so much wealth, I want it to be there - for me and others.
[1] https://smartasset.com/retirement/social-security-tax-limit