What my US Senator said about improving Social Security

[progree]

4. Getting rid of the cap will go a long way to solving the problem, but it's not quite enough.

Social Security: Raising or Eliminating the Taxable Earnings Base, Congressional Research Service, Updated December 22, 2021,
https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RL32896.pdf
Social Security taxes are levied on covered earnings up to a maximum level set each year. In 2022, this maximum—formally called the contribution and benefit base, and commonly referred to as the taxable earnings base or the taxable maximum—is $147,000.

... If no credits to benefits are provided for earnings above the current taxable earnings base (i.e., earnings above the current taxable earnings base do not count toward benefits),38 the increased revenue would eliminate 73% of the projected shortfall and the program would have a projected shortfall equal to about 0.96% of taxable payroll. Under this scenario, the payroll tax rate would need to be increased from 12.40% to about 13.36% or other policy changes would have to be made for the system to be solvent for the next 75 years. However, the traditional link between the level of wages that is taxed and the level of wages that counts toward benefits would be broken.

... If all wages counted toward benefits as they are now, the trust fund would be depleted in 2054; 57% of the projected financial shortfall in the Social Security program would be eliminated. To achieve solvency for the full 75-year projection period, the option would require an increase of about 1.54% in total payroll tax rate (from 12.40% to 13.94%) or other policy changes would have to be made to cover the shortfall.