Bill Clinton: “Let me say, first of all, the incomes of American people have grown to the point now that there is a larger percentage…”

“Let me say, first of all, the incomes of American people have grown to the point now that there is a larger percentage of people who get the benefit of the cap than there used to be. That is, a higher percentage of our people--I forget what it is, maybe one of you know--but most Americans are under the cap. That is, most Americans have income under the tax cap. People at higher income levels pay higher tax rates on their Social Security incomes than people at lower income levels. And I think that's--one of the reasons that the cap has not been raised at least a dramatic amount more is to avoid having it be an actual negative investment for the people involved, where you're just taxing people's payroll far more than they'll ever get back, and they're just subsidizing the system. The way it is now, it happens a little bit, but not much. And people at higher incomes, once they start to draw that Social Security, do pay a higher rate of tax on it than people at lower incomes. Michael, you wanted--anybody else want to say anything? [Mr. Boskin, Ms. Weaver, Representative Becerra, Senator Kolbe, and Senator Domenici discussed taking both the tax side and benefit side need into careful consideration so that all Americans would still feel that Social Security is a good investment.] Ms. Borger. Mr. President, we only have a few minutes left in this forum, and I just wanted to give you the opportunity to give us your final thoughts about what's occurred here today and what's coming in the future.”