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Herb: First, the wage cap for 2016 is $118,500. Second, not sure what you mean by "fair percentage" for the wealthy. If someone making a million dollars paid into the system with no income cap, they would pay an additional $54,653. That's about 7.5 times what they're already paying. Naturally, they should expect to reap an additional benefit proportional to their additional contributions. Presently, the maximum benefit for a 70 year old who has waited until that age to claim his benefit is about $3500/mo. That would go to $26,529 PER MONTH under your proposal of having no income cap, or $318,354 per year. Not sure you'd support that. Your question about a refund is a reasonable one. If you're over 60, I propose you'd be stuck with the current broken system. 50-60, you could opt for a 75% refund. 40-50 could elect for a 50% refund. 30-40, 35% (sorry). Under 30, you could opt out altogether, as most young workers want to do, anyway. And btw, those who are self-employed do not pay at a rate of 6.2%, but rather 12.4% with no proportional increase in benefit. Again, it's a Ponzi scheme, and a cruel hoax for younger workers.