Significant additions were made in Section 13 of Article 16 to permit a modified version of the Social Security System to continue.
Social Security and Medicare are currently funded by Special Obligation Bonds (SOBs) that are not offered on the market. Payroll taxes aren’t used to purchase Federal Debt on the secondary market because that would send tax revenue outside of the Federal Government and blow a hole into the Federal Budget. Instead, SOBs are a primary issue of debt, but the debt is held by the Social Security Trust Fund – a Federal Government Agency while the tax revenue goes to the Treasury to use for current expenditures. Essentially, SOBs are an accounting gimmick that creates a compulsory appropriation upon a future Congress to pay Social Security and Medicare recipients because these expenditures are a repayment of debt obligations, not a discretionary expenditure.
This Section retains the primary issuance structure so that Social Security and Medicare payroll tax revenue continues to flow directly to the Government. However, the taxpayers receive individual ownership of an account that is a fractional share of the Special Obligation Debt. This share is calculated based upon the cumulative contributions of payroll tax. The amount of interest paid is currently determined by the Treasurer, instead of Congress. This Section corrects that usurpation of the power of the purse by assigning Congress the responsibility for determining how much interest to pay on these accounts. This Section is written so that either the Federal or State Governments may establish a Defined Contribution Retirement Plan. The assets in these plans are given protections against a wealth tax, and owners of these accounts can pass any unused balances to their heirs at death.
In contrast, the current Social Security system is a defined benefit plan that offers a life annuity that begins payout at a designated retirement age. This Section creates Personal Treasury Accounts, a defined contribution plan that is the personal property of the account holder, similar to a 401(k) plan.
Section 15 was added to Article 16 to provide thorough definitions of income, wealth, and other concepts that create ambiguity in current tax laws.
Another change was the creation of Article 23. It classifies members of the Government according as either Elected Officials (President, Vice-President, Members of Congress), Principal Officers (Secretaries of Departments, Governor General, Ministers, Judges, etc.), Inferior Officers, Military Officers, At-Will Staff, and Employees covered by Civil Service Protection. This also clears up confusions created by our current Constitution seen in the controversy about Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. Is the President an officer of the United States? Well the Anti-Elitist Constitution leaves no doubts about the answer to this question.
This version weighs in at 35,150 words.