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Lower than expected payroll tax revenues. Payroll taxes account for roughly 89% of Social Security's financing. But in 2020, businesses nationwide temporarily shuttered due to emergency stay at home orders. In addition, widespread layoffs, reductions in work hours, and job losses resulted in the collection of fewer payroll tax revenues. Emergency legislation that was passed last year allowed employers to even temporarily defer payment of Social Security payroll taxes until December of 2022 to help companies shore up cash flow and stay in business. While the job market is getting back on its feet again in 2021, unemployment is still higher than it was prior to the pandemic, and payroll tax revenue has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels..Now a leading budget policy organization is pushing Congress to fully offset the cost of building the wall and other new spending and tax cuts with entitlement cuts - specifically, adopting the more slowly-growing Chained Consumer Price Index to calculate annual Cost of Living Adjustments. That's a change that would cut federal spending by about 0 billion, the group estimates..I decide to water my flowerpots..A letter to the editor of The Topeka Capital Journal describes one such case of Medicare's over-compensation problem. The writer said that after receiving a back brace for treatment of spinal stenosis, the local back therapy center billed Medicare ,300. Yet the writer found the same brace from the same manufacturer online for Medicare approved 4 for the brace. The writer said that when he contacted the Medicare fraud unit he was told that 4 was the correct Medicare - approved payment to providers for the brace and was told there was nothing Medicare could do about the over-pricing..Trustees tend to report the financial condition of the combined Social Security Trust Funds, including the one that pays retirement benefits, as solvent until 203But there are actually two separate Trust Funds with separate accounting. One Trust Fund cannot borrow or receive reallocated payroll taxes from the other without legislative action from Congress - a short - term fix that Congress has relied on 11 times in the past.."But all bets would be off if the current payroll tax system is eliminated, or changed to something else," Johnson says. Getting rid of the payroll tax raises a great many questions as to how benefits would be calculated. Currently, retirement benefits are calculated on the 35 years of highest earnings. "Because wages tend to grow over time, replacing the current system with something else could mean lower benefits," Johnson points out..With 1.2 million supporters, The Senior Citizens League is one of the nation's largest nonpartisan seniors groups. Its mission is to promote and assist members and supporters, to educate and alert senior citizens about their rights and freedoms as U.S. Citizens, and to protect and defend the benefits senior citizens have earned and paid for. The Senior Citizens League is a proud affiliate of The Retired Enlisted Association. Visit for more information..Raising the Retirement Age: People are living longer now, and gradually raising the retirement age would bring Social Security benefits in line with this new reality. This would close between 15 and 21 percent of the program's long-term shortfall. We would not support any proposal that would cut the benefits of today's beneficiaries..When it comes to the big drug companies, they do not want limits on the costs of the drugs they manufacture. That is why they make so many campaign contributions.