Former Social Security Boss Proposes Fix to Boost Retirement Funds

Martin O’Malley, who served as SSA commissioner under former president Joe Biden, believes upholding social security requires taxing the highest earners.

Juliette Fairley

Published: 6/17/2026, 1:30:25 PM EDT

Former Social Security Boss Proposes Fix to Boost Retirement Funds — Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O'Malley testifies before the Senate Committee on the Budget at the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 11, 2024. (Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)

Sustaining the nation’s retirement trust fund isn’t as complicated as most people believe, according to a former Social Security Administration (SSA) chief.

Martin O’Malley, who served as SSA commissioner under former President Joe Biden, believes upholding the system requires lifting a tax cap on the wealthy.

“A family of four that's hardworking enough to be able to make $182,000, they pay about $11,000 into Social Security,” O’Malley said. “Somebody making a billion dollars also pays just $11,000 into Social Security. So, that's the fix.”

O’Malley gave the remarks during a June 15 interview with NewsNation newscaster Blake Burman in response to an annual report on the financial status of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI) trust funds.

The report, released on June 9, projected that the OASI Trust Fund reserves will be depleted by the fourth quarter of 2032 with 78 percent of benefits payable at that time.

“That conclusion assumes that Congress won't make an adjustment. They have every time,” O'Malley said. “The question really is what will Congress do?”

In 1982, Congress united and crafted a political compromise that shored up the fund’s reserves for 75 years, according to O'Malley.

"That surplus intentionally built up since 1982 is being depleted sooner than they thought back then because of income inequality and because no person making more than $182,000 pays another penny into Social Security," he said.

Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) introduced the Social Security 2100 Act, which would apply the Social Security payroll tax to earnings above $400,000 a year.

The proposal is pending in the House Committee on Ways and Means.

“Most Americans, Blake, think it is unfair that wealthy people don't pay the same tax rate as a custodian in a school or a teacher,” O’Malley said.

Currently, the payroll tax rate is 6.2 percent, and data show that anyone earning more than the annual taxable wage base cap of $184,500 stops paying it.

SSA estimates that the percentage of American workers earning above the tax cap has held steady at 6 percent for more than 40 years.

“It's only 6 percent of us that experience any benefit from the cap and an even smaller percentage, 3 or 4, who benefit from scrapping the cap on income above $250,000,” O’Malley said.

A National Academy of Social Insurance and AARP study found that 85 percent of Americans favor increasing revenues, such as raising taxes on high earners rather than cutting benefits to close the gap.

“Eighty-seven percent of Americans believe we should scrap the cap, and wealthy people should pay the same tax rate for social security that they do,” O’Malley added. “I think it's an easy lift.”