With Social Security facing solvency problems in less than 20 years, U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, has reintroduced his bill to extend the life of the program by hitting higher-income earners with a payroll tax increase.

Don’t expect Deutch’s plan to get anywhere in the Republican-controlled House. His similar bill in the last Congress never got a hearing, and the chairman of the Ways and Means subcommittee that oversees Social Security was dismissive of the concept at a hearing last week.

Employers and employees each pay a 6.2 percent payroll tax — a combined 12.4 percent — on earnings up to $127,200 to finance Social Security retirement and disability benefits. Deutch’s bill would eliminate the income cap, making all earnings subject to Social Security taxes.

(In addition to the Social Security tax, workers and employers each pay a 1.45 percent tax — a combined 2.9 percent — to pay for Medicare. There is no cap on income subject to the Medicare tax.)

A Social Security Trustees report released last week estimates that, if no changes are made to the system, Social Security will only be able to pay 93 percent of promised disability benefits beginning in 2028 and will only be able to pay 75 percent of promised retirement benefits beginning in 2035.

That means a person who is 49 years old today would only receive three-quarters of promised benefits when he or she reaches the retirement age of 67.

So some type of revenue increases or spending reductions are needed to preserve Social Security’s long-term viability. Some Republicans, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, have proposed gradually increasing the retirement age for younger workers — but not current beneficiaries or those nearing retirement — to extend the program’s solvency.

President Donald Trump pledged as a candidate to leave Social Security benefits untouched. His 2018 budget proposal would not alter Social Security retirement benefits, but it envisions $72 billion in savings over 10 years to Social Security Disability Insurance by promoting measures "to ensure only participants who remain eligible continue receiving benefits."

Meanwhile, a budget plan released by House Republicans this week does not specifically address changes to Social Security retirement benefits, but calls for savings in the Disability Insurance program by eliminating payment of both unemployment and disability benefits to a recipient.

The Social Security trustees don’t recommend a course of action in their report, but urge Congress to act soon.

"The Trustees recommend that lawmakers address the projected trust fund shortfalls in a timely way in order to phase in necessary changes gradually and give workers and beneficiaries time to adjust to them," the new report says. "Implementing changes sooner rather than later would allow more generations to share in the needed revenue increases or reductions in scheduled benefits and could preserve more trust fund reserves to help finance future benefits."

Subjecting all income to the Social Security tax would make the retirement program solvent through 2067, Social Security Chief Actuary Stephen Goss said at a Ways and Means hearing last week. The program’s expenditures would begin exceeding revenues in 2026 rather than in 2022 as is now forecast, Goss said, and would then draw on reserves to pay benefits over the next four decades.

"So even if we get completely rid of the taxable maximum, the program will be running cash-flow deficits within the next decade," said Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson, R-Texas. "That sure doesn’t get us much and as I’ve said before we clearly can’t tax our way to solvency."

In addition to his proposal to make all income subject to the payroll tax, Deutch’s bill would make annual cost-of-living adjustments more generous to retirees by using a Consumer Price Index formula aimed at seniors rather than the CPI formula currently in use.

As calculated by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the senior CPI places more emphasis on housing and medical costs than the regular CPI formula. For the 30 years ending in 2011, the senior CPI increased by an average of 3.1 percent per year rather than 2.9 percent a year for the standard CPI calculation.

Former President Barack Obama in 2013 proposed saving $130 billion over 10 years by tying benefit increases for Social Security and other programs to a more conservative formula called "chained CPI." It was a rare instance in which the liberal Deutch opposed Obama. Obama ultimately abandoned the proposal.

In addition to Deutch’s new legislation, Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, has introduced an identical bill in the Senate.

"I’m proud to once again join with my friend Senator Hirono to re-introduce this bill," Deutch said in a statement released by his office. "Social Security is a fundamental program that protects millions of American workers’ economic security. It protects retirees, people with disabilities, and families who have lost a breadwinner. Yet, with President Trump willing to break his promise of protecting Social Security from cuts, and with ongoing threats to the program from Congressional Republicans, it’s more important than ever to fight for Social Security."