Why the blanket “not true”? What do you have to the contrary? At least this post has a citation.
This really is concerning for my parents ‘cuz of the “... it doesn’t even matter if you’re retired. Your gross income WILL go up by the amount of insurance your employer paid for. So you’ll be required to pay taxes on a larger sum of money that what you actually received. Try taking the tax form you just finished filing for 2009 and see what an additional $15,000.00 or $20,000.00 gross income does to your tax debt.”
Curious, sincerely why you say not true.
The information you presented has been making the rounds on e-mail for months. Don’t feel too bad, I have friends who are normally very reliable and very well-informed falling for this. It’s just not true that the benefits will be taxed as ordinary income. Think about it: if it were true, do you think the republicans running for office this fall wouldn’t have seized upon it and made it the centerpiece of their argument for repeal? This tax would push some people’s tax liability through the roof.