Dear Guy:
Thank you for contacting me regarding proposals to repeal the taxation of Social Security benefits.
..and I thank you for opening up a dialogue with me on the subject of Social Security benefits.
I understand it is frustrating to pay taxes throughout your work history to qualify for Social Security benefits, only to have those benefits taxed when you retire. As you know, current law dictates that if a Social Security recipients' threshold income exceeds $34,000 (single) or $44,000 (couples), up to 85% of their benefits is subject to income tax. I am concerned that this taxation places some seniors in a financial predicament after the government promised that Social Security would be there to help them in their golden years. Please rest assured that I will work for fair tax treatment of your Social Security benefits as Congress considers proposals to reform Social Security.
That is very interesting! I wonder if you really do have any idea how frustrating it is to pay into a totally inequitabable system from the age of 18 until a projected retirement age of 66 to 70. If you are so knowledgeable and concerned about the frustration that working people feel, then I wonder if you would be willing to give up your present retirement plan and begin paying into the same Social Security system that I have been paying into since that age of 18? I went to work in the offshore oil-field the day after I graduated from High School, and I was fortunate enough to make and save enough money each summer and one Christmas to finance my entire college education.
I am not saying that I would not have welcomed a "Care Package" more than once, and I went to bed hungry more than a few nights during my five year tenure in college. However, I was able to separate wants from needs, and I made the sacrifices that were imperative to stay enrolled in school. I don't wish to dramatize my college experience here, because those days can be the best days in any person's life.College is a place where one can form life-long friendships and exchange ideas and thoughts with people who have come from entirely different backgrounds. The common thread is that everyone is striving to attain a goal that sets the stage for the rest of your life. You work hard in college, and you expect to realize the gains as you enter into adulthood and become part of the workforce. The hope is to earn a decent living for yourself and your family, and the key to doing so is inseparable from the fact that one must be allowed to keep as much of one's earnings as is possible. That, of course, is far from reality today.We are so over-taxed, and have been for many years, that it is impossible to keep enough of what we earn to achieve the objectives described above.
Tonight as I sit here and reflect on the past 36 years as a licensed professional and having practiced in several states, I realize just how many things are ineqitable in life, however this is not a perfect world in which we live, and as long as we have greed and corruption at all levels of government, from the local level to the top of the ladder, life is not likely to get any better. It certainly does not take a mental giant to figure out that when an individual spends $1,000,000 to get elected to a job that pays $50,000 per year, there is an obscene amount of money that finds its way into the pockets of the successful candidates.
It pains me to see, every day of my life, so many older people who once thought they would be financially secure at the age of retirement. Today, in this country, it is the exception rather than the rule that an individual does not need to worry about outliving their money! Abject poverty is probably the most unbecoming and demeaning human condition that life has to offer.
Through my positions on the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Special Committee on Aging, I will continue to work with the President and my colleagues on a plan to make our Social Security system fiscally sound for its future beneficiaries.
Now, the paragraph above is the one that particularly impugnes my intelligence and my integrity. You know, quite well, that the "President," and your colleagues, could care less about the quality of life that exists for the people of this country, and unless one of the future beneficiaries is your child, then it is highly unlikely that there is great concern for fututure beneficiaries. I have witnessed so many individuals who are turned down over and over for disability benefits. The people to whom I am referring, would need to present at a federal office with their death certificate in the hands of the spouse.
We once had a sound plan that allowed for the Social Security system to remain fiscally sound for eternity. It was not until monies that were "Social Security Contributions" were transferred into the general fund that the system ran into problems. If you people in Washington...Democrats in Particular.... had not seen fit to get your hands on that money, we would not be having this discussion tonight. Money would be readily available for the physically and mentally infirm and the elderly population who have made so many sacrifices for and contributions to this country throughout their lives. I know you feel as though you and your colleagues are doing a fine job, but I am totally baffled as to how you folks can look into the mirror!
I appreciate knowing your views on this important issue. Please know that I will continue my work to ensure the solvency of Social Security and improve the quality of life for all older Americans, and don't hesitate to contact me again if I may be of any assistance to you.
It is very reassuring that you will continue to work on freeing up the tax burden on older Americans, but I wonder if you are equally as dedicated to cutting the pensions and retirement plans of the members of the House and also the Senate. I would also like to know your position on immigrants, who have never paid into the Social Security system, however they are entitled to allocations of monthly benefits that should belong to the people who made regular deposits into the fund.. Americans have worked so hard to earn their slice of that pie, and it is an eagreagous injustice that the real contributors have been forced to accept less so that undeserving immigrants become eligible to receive benefits.
Sincerely,
Guy Stirling
Sincerely,
Blanche L. Lincoln
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