Republican suggests base Soc. Sec. benefits off race & gender

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Thomas Says Social Security Needs New Funding Options (Update1)

Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. should look beyond the payroll tax to fund Social Security and consider a value-added tax and altering benefit calculations based on gender and race, the head of the congressional tax-writing committee said.

``Why even bother looking at payroll tax?'' Representative Bill Thomas, a California Republican who is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said on NBC's ``Meet the Press'' today. ``That was a solution in the 1940s and 1950s.''

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