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Barry Hinckley on Social Security

 

 


Hire actuaries to bring system into line, not politicians

A voter asked why he didn't fight on behalf of retirees against Rhode Island's pension reforms, but still promises to fight for Social Security. While Whitehouse said Rhode Island leaders came up with a solution that was necessary, he said, unlike pension reform, Social Security is in his authority. "It is my commitment that I am going to protect Social Security. Life without it would be unimaginably worse for seniors and young people," Whitehouse said.

Hinckley countered, saying Democrats have no plan to save Social Security. "Ask yourself, is that fair, to pay into a pension system managed by the government and then get nothing," said Hinckley, who proposed hiring actuaries to bring the system in line. "The problem with Social Security, it's managed by career politicians and not professionals."

Source: WPRI Eyewitness News on 2012 R.I. Senate debate , Oct 23, 2012

End FICA payroll tax with FairTax

Hinckley once served as Northeast regional director for FairTax, a group that pushed to replace all federal taxes with a retail sales tax. "We need to go to a tax code that gets the government out of the employment process, so eliminate FICA," he said of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act payroll tax. "We would go with a fairer, simpler tax. I'd like to have some element of a consumption tax because what's happening now is the honest people are the only people paying taxes. So if you're an illegal or you work in a cash economy--which unfortunately is a massive underground economy, by some estimates $1-trillion plus--[you] pay nothing."
Source: Edward Fitzpatrick in Providence Journal , Nov 14, 2011

Stop looting the Trust Fund

Stop looting the Social Security Trust Fund and stop treating it as part of the General Fund to be spent immediately. It is retirement savings, not revenue, and should be treated that way: saved, not spent. As your Senator, I will work tirelessly to change the unified budget practice that allows politicians to raid our senior's savings.
Source: 2012 Senate campaign website hinckleyforsenate.com, "Issues" , Jul 17, 2011

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