New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is likely to announce a presidential bid in the coming months, and on Tuesday he began laying the groundwork for his campaign positions.
Christie on Tuesday proposed major changes to Social Security for high earners, as well as other changes that apply to everyone.
Details of the proposal, from the Associated Press:
[Christie will] propose phasing out Social Security payments for those making more than $80,000 in other income and eliminating them for those making $200,000 or more a year.
“I’m suggesting that Americans pay into this system throughout the course of their life knowing that it will be there if they need it to support them. So that seniors will not grow old in back-breaking poverty. But if you are fortunate enough not to need it, you will have paid into a system that will continue to help Americans who need it most,” he says, according to an excerpt released by his political action committee, Leadership Matters for America. “That is what we have always done for each other through private charity and good government.”
Christie will also propose raising the retirement ages for Social Security and Medicare eligibility and eliminating the payroll tax for seniors who stay in the workforce past age 62.
Christie is positioning himself as the candidate who isn’t afraid to tell “hard truths”.
Photo by Bob Jagendorf from Manalapan, NJ, USA (NJ Governor Chris Christie) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
