SNEK POLICY
Phase Out Social Security and Put Retirement Back in the Hands of the Individual
SNEK believes retirement should ultimately be the responsibility of the individual, not a permanent federal retirement system.
Phase out the retirement system
SNEK supports phasing out Social Security retirement benefits rather than trying to preserve the system forever. Workers should ultimately keep the money now taken for retirement payroll taxes and decide how to save and invest it themselves.
Retirement should be built through assets people actually own, including retirement accounts, employer plans, savings, investments, pensions, real estate, and other private assets.
Honor commitments already made
A phaseout cannot simply abandon current retirees or people who spent decades paying into the existing system. Current beneficiaries should continue receiving promised benefits, and workers who paid into the system but transition out should receive appropriate credit or repayment.
The government required those contributions. Changing the system later does not justify keeping the money without honoring what was already paid in.
Do not raise the retirement age
SNEK does not support continually raising the retirement age to keep the existing system alive. The objective is to wind down reliance on the program, not require younger generations to work longer to preserve it.
Return both sides of the payroll tax to workers
As the retirement payroll tax disappears, the employee share should stay with the worker. SNEK also wants the economic value of the employer-side contribution to flow toward worker compensation or worker-owned retirement savings rather than become a permanent windfall disconnected from employees.
Be honest about the transition
A transition will have real costs because existing benefits must still be paid while younger workers move toward private retirement. SNEK supports solving that transition openly rather than pretending the obligation disappears.
Disability and survivor protections
Social Security also performs disability and survivor functions. SNEK’s retirement position is settled, but any replacement for those protections should be designed before those functions are eliminated.
The SNEK position
Honor existing commitments. Repay or credit people who already contributed. Phase out government-run retirement Social Security. End the retirement payroll tax as the transition is completed. Put retirement money, ownership, and responsibility back with the individual.
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Why SNEK thinks this
SNEK’s retirement position starts from ownership and individual responsibility. Workers should ultimately control the money set aside for their own retirement rather than depend permanently on a federal retirement transfer system. At the same time, people who spent decades paying into the existing system were required to do so and cannot simply be told the promise disappeared.
How it would work
Social Security retirement should be phased out over time. Current retirees should continue receiving promised benefits. Workers who already paid into the system but transition out should receive appropriate credit or repayment rather than losing prior contributions. As retirement payroll taxes disappear, the employee share should stay with the worker, and SNEK wants the economic value of the employer-side contribution to flow toward worker compensation or worker-owned retirement savings instead of becoming a disconnected windfall.
Where we’re flexible or still working it out
The transition is the hard part. Existing benefits still have to be funded while younger workers move toward private retirement, so the cost has to be acknowledged honestly. SNEK does not support raising the retirement age simply to preserve the system indefinitely. Social Security’s disability and survivor functions are separate from the retirement program and need a replacement design before those protections are removed.
Related SNEK policies
Simple Taxes. Fewer Favors. • Debt Is Sometimes Necessary. Pretending It Is Free Is Not.