Will, writing on Obama’s proposal to lift the earnings cap on wages, talks about the middle class folk who will be hurt, and gives the following example:

You favor eliminating the cap on earnings subject to the 12.4 percent Social Security tax, which now covers only the first $102,000. A Chicago police officer married to a Chicago public-school teacher, each with 20 years on the job, have a household income of $147,501, so you would take another $5,642 from them. Are they undertaxed? Are they rich?

Dude, the $102K limit is per individual. Their tax load does not change, they are both taxed on their total earnings.

Truth be told, I don’t think that there is a problem with Social Security, but there is one with Medicare, so here is my suggestion about how to fix that:

• End the cap on employers’ part of the Social Security tax, and devote the additional revenue to Medicare and Medicaid.
• Broaden the definition of earnings to include things like the sweetheart deals that senior executives get.
• Tax the employee’s part of income at levels above $1 million.
• This would mean that there is a “notch” between $102K and $1M. You can call it the Paris Hilton tax.

It would go a long way toward fixing the problem, and it is a much easier political sell.