Romney Campaign Press Release - Rick Perry's Proposal To Turn Social Security Over To The States

Now Updated To Include Rick Perry's New State-Employees-Only Proposal October 4, 2011 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Governor Rick Perry has proposed that Social Security be turned over to the states. But transferring the program's fiscal challenges to states already facing severe budget crises of their own will only make matters worse, especially in those states with relatively high numbers of Social Security beneficiaries. While Perry has not yet provided an explanation of his proposal that would allow a thorough evaluation of its specific contours, an initial assessment can be made on the basis of the ideas that he has outlined. On the same day this white paper was first released, Perry advanced a new claim, that "we never said that we were going to move this back to the states. What we said was, we ought to have as one of the options the state employees and the state retirees, they being able to go off of the current system, on to one that the states would operate themselves." Such an assertion is plainly inconsistent with the proposal he has previously advanced, and only raises further questions that are included in this updated version of the paper. This white paper has two goals: first, to identify the questions that must be addressed before Perry's proposal can be properly understood and thoroughly analyzed; second, to use what information is available about the proposal to estimate its possible effects on various states. The paper considers four states — Florida, Iowa, Arizona, and Louisiana — and assesses the budgetary impacts of a basic plan under which each state is responsible for funding its own Social Security program out of its own tax revenues. The findings are as follows:

• Florida could face a $16 billion shortfall, requiring it to either:

• Reduce the scale of its program by removing more than one million recipients or cutting benefits per recipient by more than $4,000;

• Make dramatic cuts elsewhere in its budget, such as elimination of its public education and prison systems; or

• Raise taxes.

• Iowa could face a $1.5 billion shortfall — more than 25% of its general fund.

• Arizona could face a nearly $3 billion shortfall — more than 33% of its general fund.

• Louisiana could face a $1 billion shortfall — more than 10% of its general fund.

Methodology, assumptions, and illustrative calculations are provided in an appendix to the paper. As Perry provides additional details about his proposal, these projections can be refined. Read The Full Romney For President White Paper Here: http://mi.tt/nO6j2r