# Letter to the Editor: More Than One Way to Fix Social Security 

Rather than continually raising taxes to sustain ever-larger promises, policymakers should rethink the program’s purpose.

July 11, 2026 • Commentary 

By [Romina Boccia](https://www.cato.org/people/romina-boccia) 

This article appeared in [*The New York Times*](http://www.nytimes.com/) on July 11, 2026.

Senators Bernie Moreno and Elizabeth Warren present lifting the payroll tax cap as a “common-sense” solution to Social Security’s financing challenges. But eliminating the cap would close only about [30 percent](https://www.mercatus.org/research/policy-briefs/guide-designing-social-security-reforms) of the program’s long-term cash-flow deficit.

It would also sharply raise [top marginal labor income tax rates](https://www.cato.org/blog/top-tax-rates-are-already-wrong-side-laffer-curve-least-10-states) to punitive levels, pushing top rates across many states over 60 percent (58 percent in Ohio and 62 percent in Massachusetts, the senators’ home states). Social Security was created to prevent poverty in old age, not to guarantee affluent retiree households six-figure annual benefits.

Rather than continually raising taxes to sustain ever-larger promises, policymakers should rethink the program’s purpose. A flatter benefit focused on basic retirement security, combined with greater reliance on private savings, would be more cost-effective and sustainable.

##### About the Author 

[![Romina-Boccia-cropped2.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2022-09/Romina-Boccia-cropped2.jpg?itok=7drYb2ok)](/people/romina-boccia) 

##### [Romina Boccia](/people/romina-boccia)

Director of Budget and Entitlement Policy, Cato Institute

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](https://x.com/RominaBoccia)