The former president is again proving that if he takes over the Oval Office, he might conduct himself like an executive officer who has the experience of working within a closed economy.

On Wednesday, Trump suggested eliminating federal taxes on retiree payments, which would have a major impact on Democrats' attempts to claim he wants to slash Social Security, as outlined in an explainer by Breitbart News.

Recent inflation has brought attention to the difficulties with the present method of taxing Social Security benefits, which has long required reform.

For half a century, recipients of Social Security benefits were exempt from paying taxes. Their taxation proposal originated from the bipartisan reform committee, one of the most malevolent entities to swarm our nation in recent history.

History of the Tax

In 1983, the National Commission on Social Security Reform, which Alan Greenspan headed, suggested taxing approximately half of the benefits that high-income seniors received.

In that year, federal income tax was imposed on half of a retiree's benefits if their income was more than $25,000 due to changes made to the Social Security Act. The $32,000 mark was established for joint filers, brining massive change.

A small percentage of the population receiving Social Security benefits was subject to this levy. This took place at a time when the typical American family made $24,550 in 1983.

Those with above-average incomes were thus the only ones subject to the levy. Even lower was the median income for those who could claim Social Security benefits, a large portion of whom would have been retired. Only 10% of recipients would be impacted by the levy, according to the Social Security Administration's estimate from that period.

Taxation Without Representation

But this was always going to be a growing tax, and no politician would ever vote to raise taxes on the elderly.

The reason behind this is that the benefit tax thresholds were not adjusted for inflation. More and more retirees ended up in the tax net as a result of inflation's gradual creep into our economy.

According to the most recent numbers available from the Census Bureau, the median household income in 2022 was $74,580. However, those tax thresholds are still the same.

The Application

Therefore, pensioners with substantially lower earnings are now subject to the tax, when previously it was only applicable to those with incomes over the national average. Approximately 40% of recipients are expected to have their benefits taxed, according to the Social Security Administration.

Put simply, a tax that was originally intended for retirees with a pretty good income is now imposed on those over 65 who work part-time just to make ends meet.

The fact that it amounts to taxation without representation makes it much worse. No one cast a ballot in favor of the tax hikes. Inflationary bracket creep is all that caused them to occur.

The plan put forward by Donald Trump will terminate this. Trump has brought back some democratic accountability to the issue simply by proposing to abolish taxes on Social Security benefits.