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Brown-Waite cautious on Social Security

At town hall meetings, U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite signals she may not swallow the Bush proposals.

By RAGHURAM VADAREVU
Published February 7, 2005

When U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite swung through Citrus County on Monday to listen to her constituents' concerns, she expected to receive plenty of questions about the future of Social Security.

She did. After all, her eight-county district, which includes Citrus, Hernando and parts of Pasco counties, is home to roughly 250,000 Social Security beneficiaries.

And to demonstrate that she was not going to blindly support President Bush's calls for changes to the Social Security system, Brown-Waite had a quick story at the ready at the two town hall-style meetings in Crystal River and Inverness.

In fact, Brown-Waite, R-Crystal River, told Bush she wanted to "proceed cautiously" last Friday as she and the president rode together in his limousine on their way from Tampa International Airport to the city's convention center.

"He wasn't happy with me," she said.

Brown-Waite told audiences at both meetings that she has not decided whether she would support the president's plans to create private investment accounts that would be funded by diverting a portion of the payroll taxes that workers already pay. For her, there are too many unanswered questions.

"I'm reserving judgment," Brown-Waite said. "I think that is the only prudent thing to do."

The president's plans are not the only potential solutions, she said.

For instance, Brown-Waite said, the AARP, the national group that represents seniors, has said the Social Security shortfall would be cut nearly in half by raising the salary threshold at which payroll taxes are no longer collected.

Currently, she said, a worker making $100,000 will only have payroll taxes deducted on $90,000, with the remaining $10,000 exempt from payroll taxes. If the threshold were raised to $120,000, the AARP concluded, the new revenue would cut the shortfall by 43 percent, she said.

Another solution, she said, could be a national sales tax. She was careful to say that she did not know at this time whether she supported such an idea.

Brown-Waite said the revenue generated from a national sales tax - which would replace income taxes - could generate an enormous amount of money for government coffers. She then lamented that Congress might then dream up new programs on which to spend the funds.

After asking the congresswoman to explain the idea a bit more, Bill Weber, 62, of Floral City, said her pitch made the idea of a national sales tax a bit more appealing.

"Hey, maybe there's a viable option there," he said after the meeting in Inverness.

Weber wants to get the wealthy who hire accountants and attorneys to find loopholes in the tax laws and the rest who are avoiding paying taxes.

"I want to get the deadbeats to pay their fair share," he said.

Overall, residents seemed satisfied with Brown-Waite's stance on Social Security, but John McFadden, 68, of Inverness, wondered whether her reluctance to go along with the president would prompt Republicans in Congress to retaliate against her.

Brown-Waite said Republicans would not retaliate in such a way. Then, she added, "I've been threatened, in which case I've used some unlady-like language."

One audience member who did not agree with the president's approach was Kathleen Smith, 71, of Sugarmill Woods. She wanted to know why the president gave tax rebates, such as the $300 check she received, to millions of taxpayers instead of using it to fix Social Security.

Brown-Waite responded, "I've yet to find someone who's sent that check back."

The congresswoman added that the $300 rebate helped "a lot of younger people" and families with buying such items as clothes to outfit their school-age children.

While the subject of Social Security took up a large portion of the two meetings, residents also asked about other topics, including funding for medical care for veterans, service charges on telephone bills, and a tax credit for long-term care insurance.

Brown-Waite will hold similar meetings from 10 to 11 a.m. Feb. 28 at the Zephyrhills City Council chambers and from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Land O'Lakes Community Center.

--Raghuram Vadarevu can be reached at 564-3627 or rvadarevu@sptimes.com

[Last modified February 7, 2005, 19:06:02]