August 30, 2014   WASHINGTON--Concord Coalition Board Member
Martha Phillips strongly urged Congress and the White House to
avoid relying exclusively on tax increases to close the gap
between future Social Security benefits and expected revenues in
testimony before the Senate Special Committee on Aging today.
"Reduced to its fundamentals, the problem ahead for Social
Security is that the growing real benefits promised under
current law cannot be financed by the revenue structure that is
now in place," testified Phillips. "Closing the gap by relying
solely on taxes would constitute an impossibly burdensome tax
increase, would have negative labor force consequences, would be
generationally unfair, and would use resources that might be
needed for other purposes in the future, including dealing with
intractable Medicare problems."  In her testimony, Phillips
explained that:     • The payroll tax that funds Social Security
is already a heavy burden. Payroll taxes already are the largest
tax owed by three-quarters