Social Security Changes Under the Trump Administration – Here’s What Retirees Can Expect Starting in 2025

Now that the presidential election is over, it is time to analyze the impact that policies suggested by President-elect Donald Trump during the campaign and how they would impact Americans, especially those concerning Social Security.

During Trump’s first Whitehouse term there were no meaningful steps taken to shore up,, and while he has vowed to protect the program, he has not announced any specific measure to do so. What he did mention were two policies that could negatively impact the program and seniors instead pf helping them.

Proposals to change Social Security

There have been many proposals set forth to ty to save Social Security from the ancient shortfall that is set to happen in 2035 at the latest. House Speaker Mike Johnson promised to form a debt commission last year before advocates warned of the risk that it could harm benefits, and it is not the only proposal that has been quickly discarded. Raising retirement age or just cutting benefits have been tossed around as well, but they have not been approved either.

In fact, Trump pointed out in his campaign that there were plenty of solutions to choose from “There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements. There’s tremendous amounts of things and numbers of things you can do.”

But when both the public and the media interpreted this as him stating he would cut benefits, his campaign corrected his stance by stating he was referring to the program’s waste. In fact, Trump himself emphasized he would not raise the retirement age or make cuts, setting a platform that read “FIGHT FOR AND PROTECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE WITH NO CUTS, INCLUDING NO CHANGES TO THE RETIREMENT AGE,” although with no details on how to address the program’s insolvency and accompanying benefit cuts.

Although Trump’s first presidency made some changes to Social Security, Charles Blahous, senior research strategist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a former public trustee for Social Security and Medicare has stated that, according to data from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office the changes were negligible despite being touted as saving billions.

As Blahous explained what he beliefs will happen in this second term “The most likely scenario is avoid and delay and evade the problem. That would result in an even greater certainty of insolvency in a subsequent presidential term.”

Although this might sound bleak, it is better than the alternative. Another of the announced proposals involved eliminating Social Security taxes, which, if implemented, would drain critical tax revenue from Social Security’s trust funds, leading them to run out of money by 2031, three years earlier than currently projected. It would also force a roughly 30% cut in benefits.

His campaign did not mince words when disparaging the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan government watchdog that provided most of the data in conjunction with the Congressional Budget Office. Karoline Leavitt, who was then the campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement at the time “By unleashing American energy, slashing job-killing regulations, and adopting pro-growth America First tax and trade policies, President Trump will quickly rebuild the greatest economy in history and put Social Security on a stronger footing for generations to come, all the while eliminating taxes on Social Security for America’s well-deserving seniors.” Adding that the watchdog has been “consistently wrong throughout the years.”

He proposed tax cut would favor those earning between roughly $63,000 and $206,000, who would see the largest average boost in their share of after-tax income, according to the Tax Policy Center.

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As per usual, those who could benefit from larger paychecks will not see a change in their finances at all, as those on the lower echelons are already not taxed on their benefits.