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By Suzanne Blake
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Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic nominee for the presidential election, has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
Voters are sizing up both former president Donald Trump as well as Harris when it comes to their Social Security policies. Changing Social Security has long been a third rail for presidential candidates and a recent poll from Bloomberg/Morning Consult found Social Security and Medicare is "very important" in helping 63 percent of voters decide who to cast their ballot for.
Now that Walz, age 60, will be on the ballot this November, his policies are also likely to be inspected by voters. Walz is currently serving his second term as governor and also spent 12 years in Congress as a trusted face among working class Americans.
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Minnesota has long been one of just 12 states that taxes Social Security benefits, meaning less money in many seniors' pockets despite their fixed incomes and the high inflation they face.
However, back in 2022, Walz has said he would be onboard for getting rid of the Social Security tax for "a large number of Minnesotans."
"I don't think those at the top of the line — millionaires and billionaires — are concerned about the Social Security tax," Walz told MPR News.
This indicated he was favor of getting rid of the tax for 90 percent of Social Security recipients but believed the top 10 percent should still pay the tax.
The retirement funding program benefits seniors and those living with disabilities with monthly checks, but analysts have long been warning the program is set to become insolvent by the mid 2030s. If that point is reached, there won't be enough money to offer full benefits to Americans who have been paying into the program.
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Several lawmakers have proposed changes to Social Security to fix its insolvency crisis, but some of the top solutions, like raising the retirement age or lowering benefits, remain unpopular among Americans.
Both Walz and Harris have shown a commitment to fully fund both and find more money for the program from taxes on higher earners.
"Both Harris and Walz have discussed millionaires and billionaires not 'paying their fair share' and this playing a part in the coming budgetary shortfalls these programs and others are going to encounter," Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek.
"It's difficult to know if those potential tax increases will occur, as it will depend on what type of Congress a Harris/Walz administration would have to contend with."
Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of michaelryanmoney.com, said Walz is likely to double down on protecting Social Security as a vice president.
"Expect a push for measures to shore up long-term funding," Ryan told Newsweek. "This isn't just about today's retirees. It's about ensuring Gen Z and millennials have a safety net when they need it."
Ryan also said payroll tax adjustments for higher earners might change under a Harris Walz administration.
"It's a balancing act – keeping the programs funded without overburdening middle-class workers," Ryan said, adding that Walz has not been keen on benefit cuts.
As Minnesota's governor for two terms, he's voted to protect abortion access, getting rid of the 24-hour waiting period and parental consent rules, and legalized marijuana across the state. He also sought more restrictive gun laws and focused on more expansive paid family leave and school meals as the Democratic leader in the state.
Walz has also been vocal in his criticism of Trump and now running mate JD Vance.
"What I know is that people like JD Vance know nothing about small town America," Walz said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" in July. "My town had 400 people, 24 kids in my graduating class, 12 were cousins. And he gets it all wrong."
He added that Republican policies "destroyed rural America."
Vance spoke out against cutting Social Security in an interview with the New York Times in June. He railed against sending the message to elderly people that "you're on your own" and argued for America increasing its workforce instead of cutting payments.
"Raising middle-class taxes — I don't like that idea for obvious reasons," he said. "You can get some revenue out of raising taxes on wealthy Americans, but there's no way that you can run an economy at a structural growth rate of around 1 percent with demographics that are getting worse and worse and worse and solve the problem by taxing rich people. You have to fix the underlying issue."
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