The MAGA Republicans do not want to eliminate Social Security and Medicare, rather, they would like to eliminate the government’s double dipping through taxation. Donald Trump is now declaring that he would work to eliminate tax on Social Security for seniors.
It was Ronald Reagan who first introduced tax on Social Security in March of 1983 as taxation is a bipartisan power grab, but the Democrats are more overt with their desire to steal personal funds.
The 1983 amendment reads as follows:
“If the taxpayer’s combined income (total of adjusted gross income, interest on tax-exempt bonds, and 50% of Social Security benefits and Tier I Railroad Retirement Benefits) exceeds a threshold amount ($25,000 for an individual, $32,000 for a married couple filing a joint return, and zero for a married person filing separately), the amount of benefits subject to income tax is the lesser of 50% of benefits or 50% of the excess of the taxpayer’s combined income over the threshold amount. The additional income tax revenues resulting from this provision are transferred to the trust funds from which the corresponding benefits were paid. Effective for taxable years beginning after 1983.”
The Senate Finance Committee in 1983 stated that taxing a portion of Social Security could prevent the fund from insolvency – wrong. They claimed low-income individuals would not face higher taxes, which is another common lie. The House Ways & Means Committee in 1983 claimed that the tax would improve tax equity. “Your Committee believes that social security benefits are in the nature of benefits received under other retirement systems, which are subject to taxation to the extent they exceed a worker’s after-tax contributions and that taxing a portion of social security benefits will improve tax equity by treating more nearly equally all forms of retirement and other income that are designed to replace lost wages,” the committee stated.
Then in 1993, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act sought to modify the 1983 amendment by adding a secondary threshold of taxation for individuals earning over $34,000 and individuals filing a joint return over $44,000. The taxable percentage was proposed to be raised to 85% for “high-income” beneficiaries. The Senate wanted the funds to go the Medicare HI Trust Fund while the House wanted the additional taxes to go to the General Fund of the Treasury, but the Senate prevailed over the House.
The government claimed it would help the slush fund that is Social Security operate more akin to a private pension.
As the House Budget Report stated in 1993:
“The committee desires to more closely conform the income tax treatment of Social Security benefits and private pension benefits by increasing the maximum amount of Social Security benefits included in gross income for certain higher-income beneficiaries. Reducing the exclusion for Social Security benefits for these beneficiaries will enhance both the horizontal and vertical equity of the individual income tax system by treating all income in a more similar manner.”
I should add that Joe Biden was in government and voted in favor of taxing Social Security in both 1983 and 1993.
The Congressional Budget Office believes that Social Security will run dry within the next few years. The US national debt surpassed $35 trillion this July and the government is STILL spending with no end sight. The majority of the people currently paying into Social Security by force will not receive anything in return. Social Security itself is already a tax upon the people that they cannot opt out of. They would receive a FAR GREATER RETURN if permitted to invest that money. The government steals a portion of your pay that they claim will benefit you in retirement. Then the government fails to give you back any compounded interest, tells you that they’ll safely hold onto that money until you’re close to death, and then pay you back pennies in comparison to what you could have made AND they’ll tax you again from cashing your own Social Security checks. Best of all Congress has been raiding Social Security to fund their own initiatives for many years. The entire nation needs an absolute overhaul on taxation in general as the government is STEALING from the people.
