Do We Really Want To Remove Taxes On Social Security

[gab13by13]

Doing so benefits the rich, benefits the lawyer who decides to keep working part time after he/she retires.

Today, people making 25k - 32k joint pay no taxes on SS.
Today, people making 32k - 44k joint are taxed on 50% of SS
Today, people making over 44k are taxed on 85% of SS.

Removing taxes on Social Security will remove 50 billion dollars annually from the SS trust fund.

Not taxing SS benefits the rich.

[MichMan]

1. I'm retired on SS while my wife is still working

Does that mean we are rich?

[gab13by13]

3. Not at all, I just posted numbers.

I will benefit because I am over the 44k amount, but the extra money I would get every year is going to make Social Security dry up sooner.

I am fine with being taxed on 85% of my SS.

[AnnaLee]

5. Back of envelope estimate

Last edited Sun Mar 16, 2025, 10:17 AM - Edit history (1)

A single taxpayer making $175,000 a year drawing the maximum (age 70 claim) they could from SS would pay about $30K in taxes with the 85% SS taxation entirely in the 24% marginal rate band. If taxation of SS stopped, they would pay about $10,000 less in taxes. That $10,000 is almost half of the average income of a retiree in a poor state.

Since this $10,000 would all go to SS, stopping these taxes will help make SSA unsustainable and support putting retirement savings in the hands of the super rich investment brokers.

[markodochartaigh]

2. The only way to ensure the integrity of

Social Security is to remove the cap. Everything else is a distraction which will not solve the problem. The problem is that most of the income gains of the last half century have gone to the upper 10%, while the cap has only slowly risen. In effect less and less of total income in the US pays into Social Security.

[Voltaire2]

4. The income caps were set in 1984 and

have never been inflation adjusted. That is a bit of bullshit that should be undone. The caps should be cola’d annually.

Ss financing can be fixed by removing the other cap, the fica cap, on paying into ss.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

6. It wouldn't benefit only the rich

It would also benefit people who have good pensions and people who have saved in 401(k) accounts, as well as people who file jointly and whose spouse is still working.

The answer is to lift the FICA cap, not to punish people who were able to save or who have good pensions.

[Tickle]

7. I would love love love

the no tax. This year I owe $2880 in SS taxes. Fortunately the IRS allows for pay back plans.

[dutch777]

8. Not that they will do it, but over a certain income threshold, SS should not be paid. Warren Buffet does not need SS.

Nor Trump, nor Musk. I have tried to find the facts to run numbers of if, you kept the monies in the SS fund that go to the quite wealthy, it would offset removing taxation. I don't expect the Yahoos running things currently to have the ability or interest to consider adjusting and improving the system but I do think it is possible.

[MichMan]

10. That is a terrible idea

The key to SS is that it is a universal program paying benefits to anyone who has paid in throughout their working lifetime. Once you start means testing, it becomes a welfare program and loses a lot of support.

Not only that, it is a slippery slope. What happens if they decide people with good pensions or that saved hard in a 401k or IRA, shouldn't get it either because "they don't need it"

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Not forgetting your SS taxes won't show up

on your paycheck (your employer’s share).

[Blue_Roses]

11. Do we really think this is

going to happen? This was one of the things that made my sister vote for Trump. And that's when our communication stopped.

[Cosmocat]

12. Right

One over 100,000 things he throws out to keep "the base" on the line.

[Blue_Roses]

14. Yep

and it works. My sister used to hate Trump.

[DenaliDemocrat]

13. 44K is NOT rich

Come on.

[gab13by13]

15. You missed my point,

I just put out the numbers showing the % of taxation.

People making 200k per year will benefit a lot, people making 25k to 32k will benefit nothing.

That's my point.

Plus, Krasnov's plan will remove 50 billion dollars annually from the SS trust fund making it insolvent a lot sooner.

[DenaliDemocrat]

16. Yeah no!

The $44K cutoff is still poverty levels in most of the United States.

[MichMan]

17. Same applies to SALT caps and deductions of mortgage interest

The rich benefit much more than the poor and middle class. Should those be non deductible?