Senator introduces bill to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits

[BumRushDaShow]

38. Thankfully here on PA I don't have to pay state income tax on my retirement

both annuity and SS.

But for those of us who are not "millionaires" and who also don't even make "6 figures", but still end up with enough combined retirement income to make all of our income federally taxable, it can be a good-sized chunk that is owed, and especially trying to deal with that when juggling health insurance (including Medicare) and added medical costs, as well as housing and food costs.

And with the annual COLAs calculated using the CPI-W (which is based on "wage earners" ) vs the newer, but not used CPI-E (based on being a senior with higher health/housing costs) or even the broader CPI-U - that means you never catch up.

Few if any of the very wealthy even bother collecting SS, so it is irrelevant and basically inapplicable to them... and they sure as hell have plenty of tax deductions that ensure that their effective tax rate ends up the same or LESS than most of the average peons.

And yes, many federal employees (as well as state/county/municipal civil service workers too), who worked over 30, 40, or some even 50 years, ARE ending up in the 20+% tax bracket. They PAID into their annuities with a payroll deduction just like SS. It wasn't a fixed employer-provided and paid-for "pension".

I think the federal annuity deductions were like 7% out of every paycheck. And for those of us on CSRS-Offset, we had both taken out (and they implemented an adjustment to the total % of FICA + CSRS). For FERS, there is a SS component and a TSP (Thrift Savings Plan - sortof like a 401(k)), where the employee had some minimum % deducted and put into some instrument of their choice - stocks or bonds, funds, etc), plus I think a tiny % of annuity.