Steuerle C E, Bakija J M
Urban Institute, USA.
Soc Secur Bull. 1997;60(2):37-60.
Because of the imbalance between promised benefits and available taxes, some reform of Social Security is inevitable. At the same time, perceptions of Social Security are changing rapidly as it moves away from a system where all recipients--whether rich or poor--received more in benefits than they paid in taxes, and where those who were richer consistently received larger net transfers than those who were poorer. Reform is most likely to succeed if it returns to basic principles such as progressivity, equity, and efficiency. Although these principles sometime conflict, they also provide much common ground. For example, if Social Security is meant to meet the greatest needs of the elderly, then increasing the retirement age (which mainly affects the younger and richer elderly) would be preferable to removal of the cost-of-living adjustment (which mainly affects the older and poorer elderly). Efficiency and equity principles, in turn, call attention to some groups--second earners in households, those with few employee tax preferences, those who work many years, and elderly workers--whose net benefits are lower than others who should have less claim to Social Security resources.
由于承诺的福利与可用税收之间的失衡，社会保障制度的某些改革是不可避免的。与此同时，随着社会保障制度逐渐背离这样一种体系：所有领取者——无论贫富——获得的福利都超过他们缴纳的税款，而且富人获得的净转移支付始终多于穷人，人们对社会保障的看法正在迅速改变。如果改革回归累进性、公平性和效率等基本原则，那么改革最有可能取得成功。尽管这些原则有时会相互冲突，但它们也有很多共同点。例如，如果社会保障旨在满足老年人的最大需求，那么提高退休年龄（这主要影响较年轻和较富有的老年人）比取消生活成本调整（这主要影响较年长和较贫穷的老年人）更为可取。反过来，效率和公平原则让人们关注一些群体——家庭中的第二收入者、员工税收优惠较少的人、工作多年的人以及老年工作者——他们的净福利低于其他本应较少享有社会保障资源的人。
