1 - please cite peer reviewed papers by legitimate economists (not rent-seeking lobbyists or nutbags, everyone knows who they are) 2 - it's a retirement plan w

1 - please cite peer reviewed papers by legitimate economists (not rent-seeking lobbyists or nutbags, everyone knows who they are) 2 - it's a retirement plan when it's convenient to view it that way, a tax when it's not. Government views it as a tax when including it as tax revenue when calculating e.g. budget deficits. Right-wing pundits view it as a tax when talking about the size of big government. In terms of economic impact and incentive to work for wages I believe it acts mostly as a tax, just as you think incentives to invest are impacted by capital gains taxes etc. 3 - building a factory is not rent-seeking, saying your income from it should not be taxed is very transparently so and productivity growth increases surplus, it does not determine which factor of production the surplus accrues to. capital investment does not directly increase wages. labor supply and demand does. increasing productivity should usually shift labor demand higher, however trends in labor supply or structural factors that impact labor's bargaining position can sever the connection between productivity and labor demand (monopolies and monopsonies, import substitution, labor regs, labor's ability to organize etc.).