New Delhi, June 28 -- The Social Security payroll tax stops at $176,100. A nurse or factory worker pays 6.2 percent on every dollar of wages through December; a portfolio manager whose salary clears that ceiling by late March pays nothing after that. The gap between those two experiences is what a bipartisan Senate proposal would close, and what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Congress should not touch.

lifting or eliminating the payroll tax cap so that higher earners pay the same rate on their full compensation. Bessent's stated alternative is that the administration's economic agenda, including deregulation, lower rates, and the productivity gains artificial intelligence is meant to deliver, will generate enough additional revenu...