They are proposing elimination of the "employer's half" of the SS tax as well for those over 55. While employers officially pay this tax, they compute it as part of the cost of having the employee and a case can be made that they would probably pay the employee the money. Those who would argue that the employer would simply pocket the money have to explain why they don't cut the employee's pay even more and just pocket that, too.PS. I should have read the original article. See the following excerpt. How do they arrive at the 10.6% raise?
At the very least, one common refrain is that employers are reluctant to hire or keep older workers. If the employer can get 'em for 5% less than a younger worker, that should help reduce age discrimination. And, when employers dump employee health plans (coming soon), there'll be even less reason to discriminate against older workers (50+).
But I still think the "trust us--pay more SS early and you'll get a break later" idea is a very poor one and unlikely to receive popular support.