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HISTORY LESSON ON YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY CARD

Just in case some of you young whippersnappers (& some older ones) didn’t know this. It’s easy to check out, if you ...don’t believe it. Be sure and show it to your family and friends. They need a little history lesson on what’s what and it doesn’t matter whether you are Democrat or Republican. Facts are Facts.

Social Security Cards up until the 1980s expressly stated the number and card were not to be used for identification purposes.

Since nearly everyone in the United States now has a number, it became convenient to use it anyway and the NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION message was removed.

Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program.

1.) That participation in the Program would be Completely voluntary [No longer voluntary],
2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual Incomes into the Program [Now 7.65% on the first $90,000, and 15% on the first $90,000 if you’re self-employed],
3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year [No longer tax deductible],
4.) That the money the participants put into the independent ‘Trust Fund’ rather than into the general operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program [Under Johnson the money was moved to the General Fund and Spent], and
5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income [Under Clinton & Gore up to 85% of your Social Security can be Taxed].
Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month — and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to ‘put away’ — you may be interested in the following:
Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent ‘Trust Fund’ and put it into the general fund so that Congress could spend it?
A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically controlled House and Senate.
Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?
A: The Democratic Party.
Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?
A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the ‘tie-breaking’ deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the US
AND MY FAVORITE:
Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?
A: That’s right! Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!

Now, after violating the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!

And the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it!

All that is true but doesn’t touch on why the program is going into shortage. Free riders aren’t the big problem.

It’s demographics and longer lives.

When the program began about 40 people were paying in for every person receiving payments. The people receiving payments only did so for a few years on average before passing away.

Now there are less than 3 payers for every person receiving benefits and people are living for decades after retiring.

The program doesn’t have a chance no matter the structure under these conditions.

1.) That participation in the Program would be Completely voluntary

Social Security has NEVER been voluntary.

2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual Incomes into the Program

That was the first tax rate. But the original law provided for 0.5% increases, until 3% in 1948.

3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year

Social Security taxes have NEVER been deductible from federal income taxes.

4.) That the money the participants put into the independent ‘Trust Fund’ rather than into the general operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program [Under Johnson the money was moved to the General Fund and Spent],

The original law specified that any SURPLUS (taxes received that exceeded benefits paid) would be invested in US Treasury Bonds or an equivalent. That's still the case, and the Trust Fund has about $2.7 billion in it at the moment.

What LBJ did was change how the budget deficit was calculated -- reducing it by the Social Security surplus. It was nothing but an accounting trick to reduce the apparent size of the deficit. The surplus Social Security taxes continued to be invested in US Treasury Bonds or equivalents.

5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income [Under Clinton & Gore up to 85% of your Social Security can be Taxed].

If you have sufficient income from other sources, up to 85% of Social Security benefits can be taxed. It's a bit like if you made non-tax-deferred contributions to an IRA: you pay taxes on the "interest", but not on your original "contributions".

But, it wasn't Clinton/Gore that enacted the first income tax on Social Security Benefits. It was in 1983, when an bipartisan bill was enacted by Congress and signed by Reagan. At that time, up to 50% of benefits were taxable. Clinton signed a bill in 1993 to increase it to 85%.

A: That’s right! Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!

No one receives Social Security benefits without contributing to it (unless you are a surviving family member after a Social Security contributor dies).

However, Social Security administrates the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, which is effectively a federal welfare program. SSI is funded by general federal revenues (primarily income taxes), not the Social Security tax. Furthermore, the law was signed by Nixon in 1972.

You can find all this information here, with citations:

https://www.ssa.gov/history/InternetMyths.html
https://www.ssa.gov/history/InternetMyths2.html

And, by repeating these myths, all you are doing is spreading misinformation and preventing rational discussion to address the REAL problems with Social Security.