When you have aging parents or family members, sometimes you find yourself thrust rather suddenly into a world of taxes, insurance and benefits involved with their care.

In my case, I had a rather general notion of how some of these things worked, but it wasn’t until I had to face it head long when my mother became ill that I really understood how some of these things worked. Since I still have my father and my mother-in-law to care for and I guess I’ll need it someday, too, I thought I’d try to find out what the current candidates for President are proposing for Social Security.

But, what I’ve found is that even as Democrats and Republicans prepare to gather in this election year, there hasn’t been much said about Social Security and its reform has been a political issue for over 30 years.

It’s curious because the Social Security program is set to pay out more than it receives in just a few years and something needs to be done, since for many older Americans, Social Security is their only income.

Earlier this summer, presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama called for a Social Security payroll tax on incomes above $250,000 a year. Currently, the tax is only on the first $102,000 of a worker’s income, which includes the salary of most Americans.

Though the plan has been criticized for a lack of detail, he cited that it was unfair for middle class citizens to pay tax on their entire income while the very wealthy only pay tax on a small percentage of their income.

John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, doesn’t support raising payroll taxes as a fix for Social Security. He agrees that the current system is unsustainable, and he supports supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts that would either permit employees to make contributions above the current payroll tax rate or a mandatory diversion of some of the current contributions to private accounts (“carve out” accounts).

But he has also been quoted that “everything is on the table” to be discussed as a solution, and this could include a tax increase.

Perhaps as the race heats up, we’ll hear more about it, people need to know in order to make an informed decision as Social Security issues are paramount to so many people’s lives.