by Marc Joffe, Cato at Liberty, July 16, 2024.
Excerpt:
To find out whether or not the federal government continues to be subsidizing California drivers in the present day, Krit Chanwong and I reviewed a wide range of native, state, and federal disclosures for the 2022–2023 fiscal yr. We used precise figures when accessible however had been generally obliged to make use of budgeted quantities as a consequence of lack of sufficiently detailed actuals.
by Eric Boehm, Motive, July 16, 2024.
The truth, nonetheless, appears a bit totally different. The contract that the Teamsters and UPS signed solely requires air-con in vans and vehicles bought in 2024 and past. In June, CNN reported that UPS has not but bought any new vehicles that embrace air-con.
In consequence, Teamsters members working for UPS are nonetheless sweltering on the job this summer time—whereas their boss turned a victory lap right into a plum talking gig on the RNC.
A supporter of O’Brien’s would possibly argue that progress within the labor second is all the time incremental and that air-con solely in newly bought vehicles is healthier than no air-con in any respect. Truthful sufficient.
But when unions had been important to extracting these concessions from employers, why are Amazon’s non-union supply drivers working in totally air-conditioned vehicles?
by Romina Boccia, Cato at Liberty, July 18, 2024.
Excerpt:
If the Social Safety program continues to function because it at the moment does, a median US employee incomes round $60,000 yearly might quickly face a further burden of greater than $3,000 in payroll taxes, bringing their complete payroll tax burden to greater than $10,000 a yr.
Determine 1 reveals how a lot taxes would enhance for a median US employee ought to Congress enhance the payroll tax fee from 12.4 % to 17.5 %, which is important to take care of Social Safety’s present profit construction by way of 2097. With this increased payroll tax fee, the yearly payroll tax burden for median earners would rise by greater than 40 %, growing from $7,449 to $10,512.
by Robert Posen and Charles Blahous, MarketWatch, July 16, 2o24.
Excerpt:
Social Safety’s crucial worker-collector ratio is boosted much more straight by immigration than by elevated fertility. It is because immigrants are most definitely to reach as working-age, taxpaying adults, whereas it often takes nearly 20 years earlier than native-born People make considerable payroll-tax contributions. The 2024 Social Safety trustees’ reportaccommodates a sensitivity evaluation exhibiting that if future immigration had been 35% increased than is now projected, Social Safety’s financing shortfall can be decreased by 11%. Immigration can’t remove Social Safety’s financing shortfall, nevertheless it helps.
And:
As a 2013 actuarial notice from the Social Safety Workplace of the Chief Actuary explains, these contributions solely end in advantages for the person in the event that they subsequently obtain authorized work authorization and resident standing (or depart the U.S. completely), and if they’ve contributed lengthy sufficient to accrue a profit. The overwhelming majority of people that enter the nation unlawfully fail to ever attain this standing, and what’s extra, the notice says, “the evidence indicates that a relatively small portion of those who potentially could draw benefits do so.”
In consequence, practically all such immigrants pay Social Safety payroll taxes with out ever claiming advantages. In impact, these immigrants subsidize Social Safety for the remainder of us. These subsidies are vital. For instance, in 2010, Social Safety started working money deficits which have continued ever since. Had been it not for payroll-tax collections on immigrants’ unauthorized earnings, Social Safety would have begun working deficits a yr earlier, in 2009.
This final is very essential for folks (and there are lots of of them) who assume that immigrants are hurting Social Safety.
