Regarding the letter about the Democrats “monkeying” with Social Security, the Social Security website and basic research refutes most if not all of what the letter writer said. Here is what I fou
nd at www.ssa.gov/history/InternetMyths2.html. The taxing of Social Security benefits began in 1984, following a series of amendments signed by then-President Reagan, with bipartisan support. Yes, in 1993 the percentage of the benefits that are taxable was raised by then-President Clinton from 50 percent to 85 percent. This doesn’t affect all those who collect them, however.
As far as putting the SS trust fund dollars into the general fund, the site says:
“There has never been any change in the way the Social Security program is financed or the way that Social Security payroll taxes are used by the federal government. The Social Security Trust Fund was created in 1939 as part of the Amendments enacted in that year. From its inception, the Trust Fund has always worked the same way. The Social Security Trust Fund has never been “put into the general fund of the government.” The confusion seems to stem from a change in how the budget is done, not a change to the fund itself.
Currently, no one who didn’t pay in to the fund (and doesn’t have a spouse or parent who did) can collect benefits, immigrant or not. And Social Security was never voluntary. It has always been a payroll tax. Not all jobs were covered by it, but if you had one that was, you participated. And there were never any promises that the rate would stay at 1 percent, nor that it would never be taxed. When the program started, that was the case. But it was not promised to stay like that.
So, it may not just be those senior citizens who are uniformed.
Lisa Hedman
Lynnwood
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