Cato Poll: 89 Percent of Americans Over 65 Support Tax Increases on Younger Workers for Social Security
Cross-generational majority support for Social Security tax increases complicates the political assumption that only older voters back benefit preservation, a finding that could reshape how both...
Eighty-nine percent of Americans over age 65 said they would support raising taxes on younger workers to protect Social Security retirement benefits, according to a survey conducted by the Cato Institute and reported by the New York Post on October 8, 2026. The Cato Institute poll also found majority support for the same position among Generation X respondents and millennials, two groups whose backing was not anticipated by pollsters given that the tax burden under such a policy would fall disproportionately on working-age cohorts.
The lone generational group to oppose the measure was Generation Z. Respondents in that cohort said they did not support raising payroll or income taxes on younger workers to fund Social Security, making them the only age group surveyed to break from the cross-generational consensus identified in the poll.
The Cato Institute, a libertarian-leaning policy research organization based in Washington, D.C., has historically advocated for Social Security privatization and reduced government spending on entitlement programs. The organization's own survey data showing broad support for tax increases to preserve benefits represents a finding that runs counter to the policy positions the institute has publicly endorsed in congressional testimony and published research.
Social Security is funded primarily through the Federal Insurance Contributions Act payroll tax, which is set at 6.2 percent for employees and 6.2 percent for employers on wages up to $176,100 in 2026, according to the Social Security Administration. The program faces a projected shortfall: the Social Security Board of Trustees 2025 Annual Report projected that the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund would be depleted by 2033 if no legislative changes are enacted, at which point scheduled benefits could be paid at approximately 79 percent of promised levels.
Congress has not passed major Social Security reform legislation since the Social Security Amendments of 1983, which raised the full retirement age and subjected a portion of benefits to income tax for the first time. That law passed with bipartisan support under President Ronald Reagan. Subsequent reform proposals, including partial privatization plans debated during the George W. Bush administration in 2005, failed to advance through Congress.
The current congressional landscape includes competing proposals. Some Democratic legislators have introduced bills that would lift or eliminate the payroll tax wage cap, requiring higher-income earners to pay into the system on a larger share of their income. Some Republican legislators have proposed adjustments to the retirement age or means-testing of benefits. Neither approach has secured the committee votes needed to reach the floor of either chamber in the current session, according to the congressional record maintained by Congress.gov.
The generational breakdown in the Cato poll is relevant to ongoing congressional budget negotiations. Both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee have jurisdiction over Social Security policy. Committee membership and floor dynamics in both chambers are split between lawmakers whose districts include large populations of retirement-age voters and those representing younger, working-age constituencies.
Millennial support for raising taxes on their own cohort, if the Cato data is replicated by other surveys, would represent a notable data point for members of Congress from districts where millennials, born roughly between 1981 and 1996, constitute a significant share of the electorate. The precise margin of millennial support was not specified in the available reporting from the New York Post; the full Cato Institute survey instrument, sample size, margin of error, and methodology have not been independently reviewed by this publication at time of publication.
What remains unknown is the specific question wording used in the Cato survey, the sample size, and the margin of error, all of which affect how much weight the findings can carry in policy analysis. Those details would be contained in the full survey methodology document, which the Cato Institute typically publishes alongside its polling reports. The date of data collection is also not confirmed in the available source material. Readers seeking to verify the findings should consult the full Cato Institute release directly.
No legislation tied directly to the poll's findings has been introduced in either chamber as of October 8, 2026, according to the congressional record. Whether the data influences bill sponsorship or floor scheduling in the lame-duck period following the November 2026 midterms is not yet determinable.