Social Security taxes are collected on wages only up to $118,500; the limit could be raised or even eliminated to balance the system. This cap on earnings subject to Social Security tax was set before inequality rose, and it now stands close to the boundary between the FTE and low-wage sectors. Raising the limit of wages subject to tax therefore would extend the funding of Social Security into the FTE sector. But the FTE sector is not interested in helping the low-wage sector, and nothing has been done.15
