Federal workers may not get payroll tax holiday (Federal pigs whining they won't get SS rate cut)

The Washington Post ^ | 2010-12-13

[rabscuttle385]

This is not conservative behavior cheerleading for people to pay more taxes

CSRS is a defined benefit pension plan. The Feds who are complaining aren't paying taxes; they're paying into their own defined benefit pension plan.

[napscoordinator]

Your right but there is a huge group that does pay SS taxes from 1987 on.

[Liberty Ship]

Government workers don’t PAY taxes, anyway. They GET taxes.

[concerned about politics]

"Offering relief to all workers - both retirees of the private or public sectors - is a matter of equity," he said in a letter to senators.

Uh...only federal workers are "allowed" to have privatized SS. We low life tax slaves can only do as we're told.
Why is it so bad if we get thrown an extra piece of bread this year? We've been working very, very hard. Has this man no compassion for the poor?

[Hoodat]

The most interesting thing about the FICA tax relief is the silence of the Democrats on it. It was only a few years ago that President George W. Bush suggested taking that same 2-percentage point slice out of payroll taxes and allowing workers to put that money into an IRA or their 401(k) instead. The Democrats howled bloody murder. They accused Bush of trying to destroy Social Security by allowing workers to invest elsewhere instead (and actually accrue a retirement fund - something that Social Security does not do). Yet now, these same Democrats are perfectly content with taking those same 2-percentage points of income and allowing workers to spend it on things that have nothing to do with retirement.

If this does become law, this worker here will be bumping up his 401(k) contribution by 2½ percent - the two percent on the payroll deduction, plus another half percent from the tax deduction savings on the first 2 percent. People should realize that there isn't going to be any social security 30 years from now.

[2harddrive]

These PANSIES don’t pay the tax, so why should they get a cut? At least THEIR retirement systems is solvent, not a Ponzi scheme. The “Civil Service” system should be rolled into our Social Security system, to help fund it. Cry babies all!

[CharlesWayneCT]

i’ll defend him.

The payroll tax break isn’t about the payroll tax, or social security in general. It was simply a MECHANISM to give every worker a “stimulus”, like previous $800 checks, or Obama’s $800 payment that showed up as $4 a week less withholding.

If the goal was to give every worker some stimulus money, why should people who don’t pay social security be left out?

[GailA]

Their retirement plan is a caddy plan.

While most of us were stuck with SS and maybe a company pension if we were lucky...many of those pension health plans are tied to Medicare for the health ins part.

We didn’t see a SS COLA raise this year, won’t see one next year, Medicare A/B premium is up for 2011 (only fair), some seniors will pay an additional $12 fee to Medicare for Part D, which they DON’T have, but those that do have part D will not see that fee hike. Retired Military had no COLA last year and will see none in 2011.

Military who are UNDER PAID will see a cheesy 1.9% pay raise, because their health care cost TO MUCH.

Many private sector workers haven’t see pay raises in 2 years, many have seen pay CUTS just to keep a job.

These are whiny cry babies.

[In Maryland]

"Wish more of our “public servants” had your atttitude."

So do I; so do I! Thanks!

[In Maryland]

"These PANSIES don’t pay the tax, so why should they get a cut? At least THEIR retirement systems is solvent, not a Ponzi scheme. The “Civil Service” system should be rolled into our Social Security system, to help fund it. Cry babies all!

I am sorry but you are misinformed. The old Civil Service System is not solvent and is an enormous UNFUNDED liability of the government. If any corporation funded their pension at the low level the feds do, they would be in jail. Rolling the Civil Service System into Social Security would result in an earlier failure of the Social Security System - Social Security still collects taxes from most American workers. The CSRS only collects from 426,000 workers (a number which is getting lower every day, since no one new is joining CSRS (by law) and plenty of people are retiring).

Benefit payments under CSRS are about $70 billion a year and rising. Payments by workers into CSRS are around $2 billion a year and falling. So rolling CSRS into Social Security would result in a net loss of $68 billion a year for the Social Security Trust Fund.

Getting fed workers' contributions to go into Social Security to help fund it was the reason the Greenspan Commission came up with the new retirement system (FERS) back in 1983.

I came to work on December 30, 1983 - the last day one could start with the goverment and be convered by CSRS. When given the opportunity, I switched to the new system (which included Social Security coverage). I had done the research, knew the CSRS would fail about the same time as Social Security and figured when push came to shove, the public wouldn't protest cutting off federal pensions but there was no way they would end payments under Social Security.

[Neets]

I work with one of those CSRS participants and her entire day is filled with working hard at hardly working.

She is always the first one to complain when a little extra money has to come out of her pocket, as well as the first one to complain when she can’t get a free hand out.

I’ll be happy to see her go when she retires.

I understand that my tax paying dollars are funding my employment but at the same time, I have a real beef with people like her who give the rest of the country the impression that ALL FED employees are shiftless, lazy and whinny.

[sauropod]

You and me both Neets.

[Neets]

How ya doin dude?

[sauropod]

Not too bad for an old guy ;-). You doin’ well?