Donald Trump ad distorts Kamala Harris’ stance on Social Security taxes

One of former President Donald Trump’s closing ads in the 2024 presidential race accuses Vice President Kamala Harris of wanting to raise taxes on older Americans while giving Social Security and Medicare benefits to immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

Harris "wants struggling seniors to pay more Social Security taxes while she gives Medicare and Social Security to illegals," the narrator says in the ad, released Oct. 17.

The ad is inaccurate. Harris has not proposed raising Social Security taxes for older Americans; she has proposed lifting the income cap beyond which the government stops taxing workers.

In a statement to PolitiFact, the Trump campaign cited the Harris campaign’s support for eliminating the payroll tax cap.

But as support for the ad’s claim, this is nonsensical.

Harris proposes eliminating the payroll tax income cutoff beyond which the government stops taxing workers. Payroll tax revenues are earmarked to support Social Security and Medicare. For 2024, any payroll income higher than $168,600 is not taxed; this threshold is set to rise in future years depending on inflation. 

Under the current policy, wealthier taxpayers get a break on payroll taxes, while taxpayers with low or moderate incomes pay full freight. Harris proposes to change this by imposing payroll taxes above the current income threshold.

Although the ad says Harris "wants struggling seniors to pay more Social Security taxes," the people who would pay more under Harris’ proposal would be neither older Americans nor struggling. They’re working-age taxpayers who earn at least $168,600. For comparison, the median annual pay for a full-time U.S. worker is $60,580.

In the ad, the text on screen cites a different piece of evidence. The ad cites a February 2024 USA Today article and shows a portion of the article’s headline that says, "Social Security 2025 COLA seen falling, leaving seniors struggling and paying more tax." (COLA stands for cost-of-living adjustment.)

But this doesn’t support the ad’s claim, either.

The USA Today article reported that an independent advocacy group, the Senior Citizens League, was projecting that the annual cost of living adjustment for Social Security benefits — an adjustment required under law to allow beneficiaries’ incomes to keep pace with inflation — would be 1.75% in 2024, well below what the group predicted inflation would be.

But the Senior Citizens League was making a prediction — that proved to be wrong. The Social Security Administration subsequently announced a 2.5% cost of living increase, which is roughly in line with current year-over-year inflation of 2.4%. 

The cost-of-living increase argument "isn’t evidence that Harris wants seniors to pay more in tax on Social Security benefits," said Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, a center-right think tank.

It’s possible to argue that Trump’s promise to end taxation of Social Security benefits means that Social Security beneficiaries would pay more in taxes under Harris than they would under Trump, Watson said. 

But he added that the ad didn’t say that. "The claim itself implies Harris supports higher tax rates on those benefits than under current law, which isn’t accurate," Watson said.

Featured Fact-check

Bob Casey

stated on October 10, 2024 in a TV ad

To pay for extending the Trump tax cuts, Dave McCormick has “made clear he’ll slash your Medicare and Social Security, and cut Medicaid for nursing home care.”

Immigrants in the U.S. illegally currently aren't eligible for Social Security and Medicare. And Harris hasn’t proposed  changing that during this campaign.

The Trump campaign pointed us to comments from Harris’ 2019 presidential campaign, in which she expressed a willingness to include immigrants in the U.S. illegally to qualify for universal health care.

Since she’s been vice president and the presidential nominee, Harris hasn’t expressed similar views.

Harris has spoken about a pathway to citizenship that would enable at least some people in the U.S. illegally to qualify for Medicare and Social Security eventually, but it would take years. Harris hasn’t detailed a pathway to citizenship plan. 

People who are legally allowed to work in the U.S. can receive Social Security retirement benefits, but only after they’ve worked and paid Social Security taxes for 10 years. 

A Trump ad said Harris "wants struggling seniors to pay more Social Security taxes while she gives Medicare and Social Security to illegals."

Harris did not propose raising Social Security taxes for older Americans. Rather, she has proposed lifting the payroll income tax cap beyond which the government stops taxing workers. People who would see higher taxes as a result are neither older nor struggling. They’re workers who make at least $168,000 annually.

As a Democratic primary candidate in 2019, Harris said she would like to see people in the U.S. illegally qualify for universal health coverage, but she has not said that since becoming vice president or the presidential nominee. 

We rate the statement False.