The Senior Citizen League projects a concern for seniors, so much so it cannot be objective and slants surveys and polls to take advantage of the lack of knowledge many seniors have about Social Security and Medicare.
What kind of question is “Should Social Security income be taxed?” Of course it should, nobody paid for their benefits. They fail to mention that this taxation puts $37 billion a year in the Social Security trusts and $33 billion in the Medicare trust. How about a question along the lines of “How would you make up the lost income from not taxing Social Security?”
Look at the Retirement Survey question (there are others like it in the survey). There is no option other than negative ones. Oh, since when can the President enact legislation? “and/or”
Nobody is going to cut my or your Social Security benefits‼️
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
“ What kind of question is “Should Social Security income be taxed?” Of course it should, nobody paid for their benefits. ”
What?… while I may eventually get more than I paid in, I certainly did pay for my benefits.
LikeLike
No you didn’t. You paid a tax unrelated to your benefits and the taxes you paid were long gone before you began to collect. Generally a person receives in benefits all they and their employers paid in taxes in less than eight years
In addition, in the case of a worker and non working spouse collecting have the workers benefit, who paid for those benefits? Many people receive SS having paid very little or nothing in taxes.
LikeLike
I’ll have to disagree on this one. The amount of SS I receive is directly related to the amount I paid in. Whether the $$ I paid in are gone or not is immaterial. IRT how quickly my benefits match what I put in, as I noted I (Personally) have not reached that point yet. The use of the word “I” is not impacted by others who receive benefits without paying in
LikeLike
Sorry, it’s not. Not related at all. What you receive is based on the formula in the law using adjusted earnings and percentages. They can and have been changed many times unrelated to taxes. There is the SS law and the tax law. Two separate things.
Also, lets say two people earn the same and pay identical SS payroll taxes. One married and one single. Where does the money come from to pay the spouses benefit? Even more dramatic where does money come from to pay both an ex spouse and current spouse full benefits?
Nope taxes have nothing to do with benefits. If they did our benefits would stop after we received an amount equal to taxes paid.
LikeLike
“Oh, since when can the President enact legislation?”
According to the dictionary enact has a definition of make (a bill or other proposal) law.
When the President signs the bill it becomes law. If the president chooses to veto a bill, in most cases Congress can vote to override that veto and the bill becomes a law. https://www.usa.gov/how-laws-are-made
LikeLike
I agree. I knew very few people that couldn’t save something for retirement but most chose a faster lifestyle then we did with nicer bigger homes and cars. These same people should be paying taxes on Social Security, and should have had plenty for retirement. I am like you 80 years old but I worked to age 75 so I agree with almost everything you say. I don’t have a pension like you do but I am sure if you didn’t have one you would be just fine. Keep up the great work.
RWW
Sent from my iPad
>
LikeLike
I haven’t done the fine math yet, but we are still in the 12% marginal tax bracket. When I’m gone, my wife will lose about $2,000/month and much of her income will be taxed at 22%.
She should be OK, as we are now investing our SS anyway, usually.
Could be catastrophic for a couple living on SS alone.
For state taxes,California is friendly to we lower income folks. As I recall, we paid less than $400 last year.
LikeLike
“Could be catastrophic for a couple living on SS alone.”
Why, they would owe no federal taxes even if they both were 70 years and each are receiving the maximum 2023 SS benefit of $4555/m. With only SS income there is no Federal taxes on that amount of money. The taxable portion of that SS is less than the MFJ standard deduction plus 2 elderly deductions. True if one dies the SS is cut in half as is the standard deduction, but the deduction is more than the taxable portion of SS with no other income.
LikeLike
The one thing I hate more than affirming surveys like this one is that political parties and other “policy influencers” use this data without proper content. Then they act on it.
Some of the questions are really just plain facts like inflation causes prices to rise. Inflation is not new. Retirees should always plan for inflation unless they plan for a very short retirement.
Should I be taxed more? No, of course not. But I also realize that the government must get its money from somewhere. Want I want is to limit government waste as much as possible.
People also need to read the US Constitution about the separation of powers. The President can only administer the money and programs as enacted by Congress. Even some of those programs are out of his hands such as Social Security for a reason.
LikeLike