Promise to Eliminate Income Tax on Social Security

Here's an idea: Eliminate taxes on SS benefits and tax 100% of the beneficiary's assets (e.g., home, life insurance, savings) upon death. This will recoup the cost of the lost taxes and increase the likelihood that the SS Trust Fund will have enough money to continue to pay living retirees. 

This wouldn't be much different than the federal estate recovery rule, which requires states to put a lien on Medicaid recipients' assets (e.g., home, life insurance, vehicle) to recoup the cost of providing care so taxpayers don't have to shoulder that burden. 

@d196684e 

Would eliminating this tax on benefits be ok with you IF we reduced the benefits that everybody is receiving to make up for this loss in income to the Trust Fund - that is exactly what will happen come around 2030 or so.  OR maybe that reduction in the benefit amount would be built into the Elimination of the Tax on Benefits legislation. 

By all means let’s get rid of the tax on benefits - we would just be losing even MORE money in the Trust Fund causing the time of insolvency to even come much earlier- maybe it will be a 25% reduction instead of closer to 20% - but we can plan ahead - RIGHT?

In 2023, taxes on benefits added $ 50.7 BILLION to the Social Security Trust Fund.  The reason that this was added was to help out with the Trust Fund since we are no  longer taking in enough in FICA taxes to cover benefits thus since 2021 we have been having to pull more and more money out of the Trust Fund reserve to pay benefits.  The number of workers paying into the system has been greatly reduced with the advent of technology.  

SSA.gov- Trust Fund DATA 

See table 2 - Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Trust Funds Income

Would you also support increasing the contribution rate for everybody who is working?  The younger generations might think you are only looking out of yourself.

You could just think of these taxes as paying for a benefit you got while working - mainly the matched contributions paid by your employer for you.

If you say, just remove the tax max cap - I will scream because just doing this isn’t solving the insolvency problem because the tax max cap relates directly to capping the maximum benefit.

SSA.gov- Contribution and Benefit Base 

Congress  just repealed the Windfall Elimination and Government Pension Offset - Per the CBO this adjustment in benefits for those involved will COST the Trust Fund  $200 BILLION over 10 years - now you want to even do more harm to the Trust Fund by elimination this tax on benefits.

I think I also read that more beneficiary’s DON’T pay taxes on their benefits than those that DO - so I don’t think those that DON’T pay taxes on their benefits will be supportive of pulling an income source from the Trust Fund.

Keep working on reducing the income going into the Trust Fund and we will all have to be tightening our belts.  

Neil deGrasse Tyson said it best “How sad it must be — believing that scientists, scholars, historians, economists, and journalists have devoted their entire lives to deceive you, while a reality tv star with decades of fraud and exhaustively documented lying is your only beacon of truth and honesty.”

@d196684e 

You will be happy to know that (2) RepublicanSenators introduced SB 358 last week that changes the limits for taxes on Social Security Benefits.

https://www.marshall.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senators-marshall-blackburn-introduce-bill-to-reduce-excessive-taxation-on-social-security-benefits/