A pro-growth proposal to strengthen Social Security

While it’s seemingly impossible for lawmakers from across the aisle to agree on Social Security reform, Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) Senior Citizens’ Freedom to Work Act of 2026 offers a rare opportunity for common ground. 

My analysis shows that by eliminating Social Security’s retirement earnings test, the proposal would boost economic output, expand the workforce, increase personal incomes, and improve Social Security’s finances — with positive spillover effects also boosting other government revenues. 

The retirement earnings test causes Social Security beneficiaries ages 62 to 66 to lose $1 in benefits for every $2 they earn above $24,800, resulting in marginal tax rates as high as 84%. Not surprisingly, that causes many of those affected by the test to work less than they otherwise would. 

This outdated component of Social Security — which began in the wake of the Great Depression in 1935 — was originally intended to push older workers out