Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Moreno are proposing to lift the cap on earnings subject to Social Security payroll taxes. They said on June 23, 2026, that they were working on legislation; the announcement is not a change in the law. Under the cap, wages above a set annual amount are not subject to Social Security tax.
What change are the senators proposing?
Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Moreno, a Republican from Ohio, proposed removing the Social Security payroll-tax cap. Their stated aim is to collect Social Security contributions on more of the wages earned by high earners, bringing in additional revenue while maintaining Social Security’s contribution-based benefit structure. Those are the senators’ goals, not the confirmed effects of a finalized bill.
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In their June 23, 2026, joint op-ed, the senators said, “That starts with a common-sense solution: lifting the Social Security payroll tax cap.” They announced that they were working on legislation. The available announcement does not establish whether specific implementing legislation was later introduced or scored, and it does not describe a finalized plan. Warren’s office published the op-ed and announcement.
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How the Social Security payroll-tax cap works
The cap, also called the taxable maximum, limits how much annual wages are subject to Social Security payroll tax. Warren and Moreno said the 2026 taxable maximum was $184,500. For wages up to that amount, they described the tax as 6.2% for the worker and 6.2% for the employer; self-employed individuals pay 12.4%. Under the existing cap as described in their announcement, wages above $184,500 are not subject to Social Security payroll tax. The threshold is for 2026, not a permanent amount.
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The senators argue that this makes the tax less proportional at the top: most workers pay Social Security tax on all their wages, while people earning above the cap pay it on only part of theirs. Removing the cap would subject additional wages to the tax. The announcement does not specify how a final bill would treat benefits associated with those additional contributions, so it is not possible to determine an individual’s exact tax or benefit change from the proposal alone. The senators’ release gives the 2026 cap and tax rates.
Why they say Social Security needs action
The senators’ June 23 op-ed said the trust fund that pays most Social Security benefits would be significantly depleted by late 2032 without congressional action. A later Warren office release, dated August 5, 2026, summarized the 2026 Trustees Report as projecting that after depletion the program could pay 78% of scheduled benefits under current law. That is a projected reduction in payable benefits, not a forecast that Social Security would stop paying all benefits.
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The two figures describe a projection, not a certainty about what Congress will do or what benefits recipients will ultimately receive. The senators cite the outlook as a reason to act before depletion. Warren’s August 5 release summarizes the 2026 Trustees Report.
How much revenue might lifting the cap raise?
Published estimates cited in coverage are close in scale but are not necessarily based on the same policy design or assumptions:
| Estimate | Attribution and period | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Around $3 trillion | Warren and Moreno’s June 23, 2026, op-ed | Estimated amount that lifting the cap could add to the program over the next 10 years. |
| $3.4 trillion | Peter G. Peterson Foundation analysis, as reported by FinanceBuzz in 2026 | Estimated additional revenue for 2026 through 2035; FinanceBuzz also reported the analysis estimated it would close 48% of the 75-year funding gap. |
These are attributed estimates, not an independent score of a finalized Warren-Moreno bill. The senators’ op-ed gives its 10-year estimate; FinanceBuzz reports the Peterson Foundation estimate.
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The senators’ case
Warren and Moreno argue that workers should contribute at the same percentage of their income, and that taxing earnings above the cap would raise revenue while preserving Social Security’s earned-benefit character. Their op-ed also cites a 2025 Bipartisan Policy Center poll, reporting that 65% of Democrats and 62% of Republicans supported lifting the cap. Those figures are reported by the senators, not a new poll conducted for the proposal.
The criticism
FinanceBuzz describes several objections: the change would raise taxes on high earners, might not close the entire long-term funding gap, and could alter Social Security’s earned-benefit design if additional taxes did not generate corresponding benefit increases. FinanceBuzz discusses the Tax Foundation in connection with these criticisms; the specific proposal’s effects are not established by a finalized bill or an independent actuarial score in the sources cited here.
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Other approaches mentioned in coverage include raising the retirement age, reducing benefits for higher-income workers, and taxing investment income. The cited sources do not provide comparable estimates for those options, so they cannot show how their revenue, distributional effects, or benefit changes would stack up against lifting the cap.
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