About 40% of people who get Social Security must pay federal income taxes on their benefits. This usually happens if you have other substantial income in addition to your benefits. Substantial income includes wages, earnings from self-employment, interest, dividends, and other taxable income that must be reported on your tax return.
The fact SS benefits are taxable does not always mean taxes are actually paid.
You will pay tax on your Social Security benefits based on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules if you:
- File a federal tax return as an “individual” and your combined income* is
- Between $25,000 and $34,000, you may have to pay income tax on up to 50% of your benefits.
- More than $34,000, up to 85% of your benefits may be taxable.
- File a joint return, and you and your spouse have a combined income* that is
- Between $32,000 and $44,000, you may have to pay income tax on up to 50% of your benefits.
- More than $44,000, up to 85% of your benefits may be taxable.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
I will have no problem paying taxes on my SS benefits when I retire. I also think they should raise the income on which you pay into SS. There are ways to boost SS
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First lets make it sustainable then talk about boosting it.
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My gripe is the way it was set up in 1983. Greenspun and others knew that inflation would pull in more and more people over time. If it was that important to collect any significant or any at all taxes on Social Security, then put it into a tax bill and deal with it the way it should be handled.
I’ve paid the tax for over a dozen years now and it ticks me off every year.
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Al Lindquist:
tax Social Security says the man who pays no state tax on Social Security–no doubt you are a tax activist looking to raise as much state revenue as possible thus an advocate for taxing your benefit–heck, the state taxes everything else why not that.
maybe Trump looked to the 41 states that don’t tax SS and decided it was a good campaign promise–won’t happen but it sounds good.
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I thought we were talking about federal income taxes and the impact on the SS trust solvency and the deficit. Only nine states tax SS benefits.
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I have maintained for years that it should be inflation adjusted. Everything else is inflation adjusted about the program. Run the program on the fair and square or disband it.
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The dollar amounts were established in the 1980’s and are not inflation adjusted and have never been changed. The fact that 40% of retirees pay taxes now is really irrelevant. If the amounts had been inflation adjusted, as they should have been, even fewer would be paying taxes on this benefit. This is nothing more than a hidden increase in income taxes.
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having SS as taxable income does not mean there are actually any or significant taxes actually paid.
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