Under the current scheme they somehow calculate and tell you what part of your SS is the return of your taxes already paid, and what is the taxable part, don't they? One could question their assumptions on the "investment return" there [and thus their calculations], but not the principle.
It is my understanding that under the proposal, and resultant law, passed during the Clinton administration that no such "calulations" were built into the system, but rather a threshold test was employed, whereby once that level of income was exceeded, a given percentage of your Social Security income was subject to tax.
This is when they ask if you do indeed owe taxes.
The "principle", as you so deftly put it, involves paying tax on SS income when you first earn it, then having it included again when declaring your income at tax prep time, and then coughing up again when you start collecting SS and declaring that as income.
No thanks.
CA....