Payroll tax cap unchanged

President Obama promised to strengthen Social Security for the future by making the wealthy pay more.

Under current law, people pay Social Security taxes up to $106,800 in income. On every additional dollar, there's no Social Security tax. Obama's promise to "strengthen" the retirement program by charging the tax for earnings above $250,000.

There's no sign of progress. We checked with with St. Petersburg, Fla., CPA and tax attorney G. Barry Wilkinson, who said it hasn't happened. And legislation to make the change appears to have fizzled.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced a bill in September 2011 called the Keeping Our Social Security Promises Act that would achieve Obama's goal. In a press release, Sanders said the change would fully fund Social Security for another 75 years.

The bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee and has not moved.

Obama still mentions the promise in his speeches. At a town hall meeting in Annandale, Va., in April 2011, Obama said, "If we just made a little bit of an adjustment in terms of the cap on Social Security, that would do a significant amount to stabilize the system."

That's talk, but no action. We rate this a Promise Broken.