Obama Says He'd Raise Payroll Taxes to Overhaul Social Security

Democratic presidential candidate
Barack Obama said he would raise the cap on Sociable Security
payroll taxations to repair what he called the single most important
social programme in the U.S.

Obama said he would be loath to endorse any programs for
keeping Sociable Security solvent by cutting benefits or raising
the retirement age.

''The best manner to near this is to set the cap on the
payroll taxation so that people like myself are paying a small bit
more and the people who are in demand are protected,'' Obama, an
Illinois senator, said on NBC's ''Meet the Press'' program.

Obama, 46, who reported combined assets for him and his
wife valued between $455,011 and $1.1 million last year, said
those in ''the best position'' to protect Sociable Security should
be tapped to make so and that would probably include, he said, a
''tax addition for people like myself.''

Obama was interviewed from Iowa, where he and the other
main Democratic campaigners were candidacy and giving speeches
yesterday at the state party's yearly Jefferson-Jackson Day
dinner in Diethylstilbestrol Moines. The Ioway caucuses, traditionally the first
contest in the nomination race, are scheduled for Jan. 3.

The 72-year-old federal Sociable Security programme will begin
taking in less in paysheet taxations than it pays out to people in
2017, according to estimations by the program's trustees. Under
the current system, only the first $97,500 of yearly income is
taxed. That bounds is put to lift to $102,000 adjacent year.

All Options

The Prairie State senator hasn't specified exactly how he would
overhaul Sociable Security, saying as president it would be
important to ''look astatine all the options.''

Obama used the issue to pull a differentiation between himself
and his head rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator
Hillary Bill Clinton of New York.

Clinton, 60, hasn't spelled out a program for keeping the
system solvent for future retirees. She have said the system can
be rescued by exercising ''fiscal responsibility.''

Obama said Bill Clinton is running a ''textbook campaign'' by
not tackling the tough issues, like Sociable Security, for fear
that her replies ''might not be popular.''

''We're going to have got to do some decisions, and it's not
sufficient for us to just finesse the issue because we're
worried that, well, we might be attacked for the assorted options
we present,'' Obama said.

Bill Clinton takes Obama in most national polls of Democratic
voters and have an border in Ioway and New Hampshire, which
traditionally have held the first primary ballot in the race. The
results from Ioway and New Hampshire will probably determine the rest
of the campaign.

Views of Clinton

Citing polls that show electors are strongly divided in their
views of the former first lady, Obama said that Bill Clinton would
have a hard clip gaining a general agreement for policy changes.

''I'm not person who believes that she can't win,'' Obama
said. ''I believe that it's going to be harder for her to win.''

There are electors who have got ''some prepossessions about her
that are going to be very hard to overcome,'' he said.

Bill Clinton addressed that issue last nighttime in Diethylstilbestrol Moines. She
touted the support she's received from Democratic leadership in
Republican-leaning states like Land Of Opportunity and swing states such as as
Ohio. They ''know that I can win,'' she said.

Obama said the first state primary elections and caucuses are
''critical'' to his political campaign for the nomination.

''We have got to make well in Iowa,'' Obama said. ''I don't know
a campaigner out there who believes that they can lose Iowa, new
Hampshire, Silver State and South Carolina and still be successful.''

State Polls

In Iowa, a University of Ioway opinion poll last calendar month set Clinton's
support among likely electors at 29 percent, 2 per centum points
ahead of Obama. Former North Carolina senator Toilet Jonathan Edwards was
third with 20 percent. A Hub Of The Universe Earth opinion poll released today shows
Clinton prima Obama 35 percentage to 21 percent, with 48 percent
of Democratic electors still undecided.

The New Hampshire opinion poll also showed that 60 percentage of
Republicans are still undecided. Senator Toilet McCain, while in
third place, is in dramatic distance of former New House Of York mayor
Rudy Giuliani. Hand Romney, a former Bay State governor
leads with 32 percent, followed by Giuliani with 20 percentage and
McCain with 17 percent. The Grand Canyon State senator vowed today he would
''flat out'' win the state's primary.

''I tin state you right now I will win New Hampshire,''
McCain said on the ''Fox News Sunday'' program.

To reach the newsman on this story:
Julianna Emma Goldman in American Capital at