Comment & Debate
Andrew Roth. “Privatize Social Security? Hell Yeah!” Club for Growth. September 21, 2010: “These accounts would also be personal assets, much like a house or a 401k account. If you die, you can pass it along to your heirs. With the current system, you can’t do that. You have no claim on that money even though you may have spent a lifetime paying payroll taxes.”
Michael Tanner. “Privatizing Social Security: A Big Boost for the Poor.” CATO. July 26th, 1996: “In addition, the progressivity of Social Security is undermined by differences in life expectancy. Because the wealthy generally live longer than the poor, they receive more total Social Security payments over the course of their lifetimes. In a privatized system, an individual’s benefits would not be dependent on life expectancy. Individuals would have a property right in their benefits. Any benefits remaining at their deaths would become part of their estates, inherited by their heirs.”