“The Math Is The Math” Mark Cuban Lays Out His 7 Point Plan To Reduce Deficit As National Debt Sits Above $40.5 Trillion

Mark Cuban used an X post on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026 to list the tax, wage and spending changes he says would cut the federal deficit. “The math is the math. We have to reduce the deficit and spending,” Cuban wrote. Cuban described the midterm results as “a rebuke of the way we do politics and run this country.”

Cuban did not number his ideas. By our count from Gokhshtein Media’s reproduction of the post, it contains 7 separate proposals. He gave no revenue estimate for any of them. That leaves two questions for investors: what each idea would change compared with current rules, and who would pay.

Debt Above $40.5 Trillion Sets the Stakes

Treasury’s Debt to the Penny data show total public debt above $40.5 trillion as of the Nov. 5, 2026 record date. The debt first crossed that line in late October. On Nov. 5, the 10-year Treasury yield was 4.84%, below its 5.21% level on Oct. 13. Higher long-term yields make it more expensive for Washington to issue new debt and refinance old debt.

Cuban’s 7 Proposals Compared With Current Law

• Top income tax rate. Cuban proposed raising the top bracket on earned income to 44%. According to the IRS, the top rate for tax year 2026 is 37%. It applies to single filers with incomes above $640,600.
• Corporate taxes. Cuban called for higher top corporate income tax rates along with a corporate alternative minimum tax. He did not name a rate. A corporate minimum tax already exists: under 26 U.S.C. § 55(b)(2)(A), applicable corporations owe a tentative minimum tax equal to 15% of adjusted financial statement income.
• Minimum wage. Cuban proposed a $20 minimum wage, indexed by media market. It would apply to any company above a sales or EBITDA threshold that he did not set. (EBITDA means earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.)
• Social Security tax. Cuban proposed applying Social Security tax to earnings from $1 million to $5 million. According to the Social Security Administration, the maximum taxable earnings are $184,500 for 2026 and $192,300 for 2027.
• Spending cuts. Cuban called for across-the-board cuts of 1% a year at every federal agency for the next five years.
• Buyback tax. Cuban proposed raising the stock buyback tax to 4% for any public company that does not pay at least $25 an hour. CPA Practice Advisor’s summary of IRS proposed regulations puts the current federal buyback excise tax at 1%. That rate is set in 26 U.S.C. § 4501(a).
• Healthcare. Cuban pressed passage of what he called the “break up big medicine bill” and pointed readers to his timeline for his other healthcare recommendations.

A Gap in Cuban’s Social Security Band

As written, Cuban’s band starts at $1 million. Read literally, earnings between the taxable maximum and $1 million would still go untaxed for Social Security. That is how his phrasing reads, though he may have meant something else.

The funding pressure is real. The 2026 Trustees Report projects that the combined Social Security trust funds will run out in the third quarter of 2034. At that point, 83% of scheduled benefits would be payable.

Key Details Cuban Left Out

Cuban did not set the sales or EBITDA threshold for the wage floor, so it is unclear which employers it would cover. He did not say how much corporate rates should rise. He also did not describe what the “big medicine” bill would contain.

High Earners and Large Companies Have the Most at Stake

Cuban ended with a challenge to both parties: “we have run out of time believing Ideology is a Strategy.”

If any of these ideas gains traction in the new Congress, high earners and large companies would carry most of the cost. People earning more than $1 million would face a higher top income tax rate plus a new layer of payroll tax. Large employers paying less than $25 an hour could face a higher wage floor and a 4% buyback tax at the same time. Corporate profits are strong going into that debate: Commerce Department data show U.S. corporate profits at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $4,709.5 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up 20.8% from a year earlier. Investors in companies that buy back a lot of stock should keep an eye on any bill that sets the pay test and the size threshold.

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