AARP worries tax cuts will turn into cuts for Medicare, Social Security

There are tax cuts in store for Americans and many of those are welcome.

There also could be, however, cuts that aren’t so welcome in the wake of the major tax overhaul approved by Congress this week.

“We are really concerned about the negative effects that this tax reform law will have on our ability to fund critical programs,” Lisa Lamkins with Wisconsin AARP said.

Lamkins added that there’s “no way” lawmakers can pay for the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts without looking for cuts elsewhere.

“It increases the deficit so much that we just know there’s going to be calls for spending cuts and things like Medicare and Medicaid and other programs that serve older Americans,” she said.

Deficits in the tax plan are supposed to target automatic spending cuts. The Congressional Budget Office says those could be as much as $25 billion from Medicare alone.

Supporters of the new tax rules deride those reports as “scare tactics.”

Along with Medicare and Medicaid at risk, Lamkins also believes Social Security could be in play, though current law exempts it from automatic cuts.