Quadruple, if you count the employer’s contribution.
It’s a 12.4% tax. Employers (like me) figure in the total cost of employee, not just what the employee is paid.
A retired friend of mine decided to take social security when he hit 62. Now he’s 65, and the Biden Effect has forced him to take a part-time job.
Now here’s the thing. He has to pay social security taxes, but those payments will not increase his SS benefits in any way. In what world is that even close to being fair?
You’re on a roll!
Now do ethanol! 🌽
#1 is basically just a deferred benefit. For folks closer to the max though you get reduced payments vs what you put in, those at the low end get a lot more for what you put in, so higher income folks do get a big tax on their contributions. You also need to double those amounts for the employer portion.
It is impossible to discuss sunsetting Social Security, which must be done before it destroys our economic system since it was designed as a pyramid scheme from the very beginning.
But even politicians on "our side" constantly talk about "protecting Social Security", when they know it will collapse by design.
bump for interesting read later
When I was working, I looked at it this way. My pay after taxes was maybe enough to live on, but I certainly lived on the low end of the scale. If I had not been taxed on that money it was still nothing great & if I had not been taxed on it then I would likely have had no S.S. When I retired, I no longer was taxed like previously, & my S.S. income is now based on later figures, so I am getting by somewhat better, although I may have to do without some things that are now priced out of my reach due to certain items that were excessively inflated in price. Of course, much of this depends on real estate that was (fortunately) paid for during my working years so I can get by with a little less expense. It’s no picnic, but learning to get by during the lean working years has helped.
If Americans knew what their income stream would be if this money was instead invested in the financial markets instead of Social Security, people would revolt.
A further thought:
Many of us living have benefited from payments our parents received. We did not have to pay for a lot of their support which I assume most of us would have gladly done but it did increase the size our inheritance for many.
Most things have pros and cons. You cannot just look at the cons.
There is an excellent proposal on the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) site entitled “A Way Out”. It details a way to phase out of Social Security protecting those in or near retirement while providing for a way for younger people to fund their retirement.
It was a scheme devised so as to guarantee that the folks would keep voting for their benefits.
Because SS is a slush fund. Duh!
Please don’t forget that Social Security is also the most blatantly regressive tax. The 2022 upper limit of $147,000 means that poor and middle income people will pay the full percentage but richer people will pay a much lower percentage of their incomes. Unlike other flat or progressive taxes, the effective percentage of Social Security tax the rich pay decreases as their income increases.
Well, there is a technical term for what you so eloquently describe: B O H I C A
And you WILL NOT be The Last of the Bohicans
Once you can collect you are penalized if you earn money at a job. They will reduce the social security check even though you are adding to the account!
You are also forced into medicare even when there are better private plans.