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It reviews projections for the trust fund surplus, critiques the use of surplus funds as general revenue for non–Social Security spending, and evaluates whether the system should be understood as a pension plan or a pay-as-you-go tax-and-transfer program.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/making-sense-of-the-moynihan-gambit-a-perspective-on-the-social-security-debate/323840/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/making-sense-of-the-moynihan-gambit-a-perspective-on-the-social-security-debate/323840.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Anda","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-13","2026-09-21",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",13,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What prompted the Social Security financing debate discussed in the text?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan proposed cutting Social Security payroll taxes, aiming to return receipts and outlays to long-run balance, which triggered many counterproposals.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"How does the text describe the trust fund surplus outlook?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"It cites projections that the Social Security trust fund surplus would be very large by the mid-1990s and that the surplus estimate is far bigger than the real surplus collected in 1988.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"What are the two main ways the Social Security system is interpreted?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"The text contrasts viewing Social Security as a pension plan funded by contributions over a worker’s lifetime versus viewing it as a pay-as-you-go tax and transfer system providing income support to beneficiaries.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},323840,1790682354,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":24,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":105,"preview_page_count":4},962075006959,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/e0002397efbe92a78e?_k=1776741047341049297","by David Altig  \ntem,which inspires feelings that tend toboth the political and the religious,is atopic best avoided in polite company.Itis surprising,then,to see the vigor of thecurrent debate on Socia Security taxa-tion and its role in the federal budgetprocess.Surprising,but understandable;in fiscal year(FY)1989,taxes collectedunder the provisions of the SocialSecurity Act accounted for a full 36per-cent of federal receipts.  \nMoreover,it is almost certain thatSocial Security revenues will increaseconsiderably,and at a rate that substan-tially exceeds the rate of increase inSocial Security outlays.The Congres-sional Budget Office projects that theSocial Security trust fund surplus willequal S128 billion by FY 1995.²Evenadjusting for the CBO's projected infla-tion path,this estimate is more thantwice the size of the real trust fundsurplus collected in FY 1988.  \nIn the context of growing Social Secur-ity surpluses has come New York Sena-tor Daniel Patrick Moynhan's drama-tic proposal to slash Social Securitypayroll taxes and bring actual SocialSecurity receipts and outlays back intorough balance.Senator Moynihan'ssurprise attack on the status quo appar-ently unleashed some pent-up demandto breach the Social Security taboo,for  \nMaking Sense of the MoynihanGambit:A Perspective on theSocial Security Debate  \nhis proposal quickly brought a stam-pede of counterproposals.  \nThe Moynihan position can be summa-rized as follows:As a result of the 1983amendments to the Social Security Act,Social Security tax collections have con-siderably outpaced outlays.This resultwas intentional,but,according toSenator Moynihan,the understandingof Congress was that surplus fundswere to be held in trust to finance futureSocial Security benefit payments.  \nIn fact,Moynihan contends,surplusSocial Security funds are being used asa source of general revenue,financingnon-Social Security govemment out-lays,and disguising the true magnitudeof the federal deficit.Using the surplusfunds in this way not only violates thespirit of the legislation that createdthem,but is unfair,since financingfederal expenditures with Social Secur-ity taxes makes the deficit,in SenatorMoynihan's words,“...the peculiar bur-deon of people who get paid by the  \nIndeed,the Social Security surpluscomes at a time when income taxes areplaying a smaller role as a revenuesource.The share of personal incometaxes in total federal governmentreceipts declined from 48 percent in1981 to 45 percent in 1989.At the  \nJune 1,1990  \nIs the U.S.Social Security systemmore like a pension plan,whereinSocial Security taxes represent a formof premiums for its contributors,ormore like a tax and transfer system,which provides a pay-as-you-goincome support program for itsbeneficiaries?Before linking the cur-rent Social Security financing debateto legislative attempts to balance thefederal budget,we should define thenature of Social Security policy andevaluate whether the present leveland composition of governmentexpenditures are prudent.  \nsame time,total Social Security tax col-lections increased from 30 to 36 per-cent of total revenues.  \nTo reverse this trend toward collectingrevenues through the payrolltax,theMoynihan plan would return the SocialSecurity system to a strictly pay-as-you-go basis by rolling back scheduledincreases in the payroll tax.In responseto the contention that we need the reve-nues that would be raised by thescheduled tax increases,SenatorMoynihan argues that those revenuesshould be raised so that those with thegreatest ability to pay bear a greatershare of the burden.  \nMy goal in this Economic Commen-tary is to disentangle some of the sub-tle economic issues at the heart of theMoynihan-inspired proposal to reformthe Social Security system.Central tomy position is the belief that how onethinks about the Social Security tax\"burden\"depends on whether the entiresystem is perceived as a pension fundfor its contributors,or whether it is apay-as-you-go income support programfor its ben","cbCaiavRbCOuRyFx","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiavRbCOuRyFx","pdf",1080054,"English","# Making Sense of the Moynihan Gambit: A Perspective on the Social Security Debate\n## Moynihan’s rationale and the counterproposals\n## Pension-fund versus pay-as-you-go interpretation\n## Implications for progressivity and fiscal policy","[{\"question\":\"What prompted the Social Security financing debate discussed in the text?\",\"answer\":\"Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan proposed cutting Social Security payroll taxes, aiming to return receipts and outlays to long-run balance, which triggered many counterproposals.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the text describe the trust fund surplus outlook?\",\"answer\":\"It cites projections that the Social Security trust fund surplus would be very large by the mid-1990s and that the surplus estimate is far bigger than the real surplus collected in 1988.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the two main ways the Social Security system is interpreted?\",\"answer\":\"The text contrasts viewing Social Security as a pension plan funded by contributions over a worker’s lifetime versus viewing it as a pay-as-you-go tax and transfer system providing income support to beneficiaries.\"}]","Making Sense of the Moynihan Gambit - A Perspective on the Social Security Debate | PDF",1789966326]