Social Security Takes Another Hit

[dacjohns]

Unfortunately, military retirees' and annuitants' COLA for 2010 is 0%. For many, this means their retired pay amount will actually decrease slightly, due to changes in income tax withholding and an increase in Medicare premiums for some.

http://www.military-money-matters.com/military-pay.html​

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
It wasn't really a tax increase. In the spring of 2009 they adjusted the federal withholding tables to include the Making Work Pay tax credit. Instead of just receiving the credit off of your taxes at the end of the year, they lowered your withholding about $35 a month to ensure that the money was going into your pocket throughout the year. In 2010 the withholding tables went back to normal, which appeared to you to be an increase in withholding.

Your withholding doesn't have a lot to do with the tax that is actually due. Your taxes did not go up just because your withholding went up. Withholding is just taken to cover your estimated tax bill. You can set your withholding at any rate you want, but if it doesn't come to within $1000 of what you owe on your taxes at the end of year, the IRS will impose penalties.

 

[Royd]

Quote:
I'm 57 and I've said, since my mid 40's, that I'd never be able to retire.

The govt. will either extend the age requirement, cut the payments below the ability to stay alive on it, or most likely, look at us, shrug their shoulders, show us two empty hands and say, "Sorry, Our Bad."

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
Pretty cold dude. Guess you never learned empathy as a kid. Glad you make enough money to save for college for your kids.

Social Security barely pays the rent for most seniors. Sure there are a lot of seniors that have money. They had good jobs when they were young and were able to save for retirement. Most people aren't that lucky. SS is a security net for them and the stuff they need is getting more expensive. Every time I got to the grocery store I see seniors scouring the day old bread area so they can make ends meet. They don't live extravagantly.

May your Karma bless you in old age.

 

[dacjohns]

Quote:
It wasn't really a tax increase. In the spring of 2009 they adjusted the federal withholding tables to include the Making Work Pay tax credit. Instead of just receiving the credit off of your taxes at the end of the year, they lowered your withholding about $35 a month to ensure that the money was going into your pocket throughout the year. In 2010 the withholding tables went back to normal, which appeared to you to be an increase in withholding.

Your withholding doesn't have a lot to do with the tax that is actually due. Your taxes did not go up just because your withholding went up. Withholding is just taken to cover your estimated tax bill. You can set your withholding at any rate you want, but if it doesn't come to within $1000 of what you owe on your taxes at the end of year, the IRS will impose penalties.

Mac, I will accept your explanation. I don't like math so I don't scruitinize the numbers each year at tax time and try to figure out what my tax rate is.

 

[Kat's Silly Chickens]

I have a disability that has gotten to the point now that I have to use a cane/walker and I've been fighting the SS for more than a year to get the funds I'd been paying in for most of 33 yrs.
I wonder how much fighting they would do if 'We the People' told them 'We Are NO Longer Paying Into a Fund We Will Never See'.
The SSA is not of the Federal Govt it is an Entity of the USA, and the taxes we pay into them go into a Fund in the Treasury to be paid back to us at retirement, or disability.
In all actuality the Govt can't touch that Fund, but the whole issue is that the Fed Govt borrowed from the Fund and will never pay it back, it's a horrible mess.
And yes it says that unless the SS raises the SS/Medicare taxes to a total combined 14% in the coming years there will be No Fund around 2042.
So in the long run the younger generation will pay more $$$ out of their pockets or have No Retirement Fund to fall back on when they get older.

I am so sorry that my children have to pay for a corrupt Govt...

 

[chicksbestfriend]

Quote:
I am right there with you redhen, feeling the same way! Now, if Congress would participate in the social security program and the medical insurance programs like all of us hardworking americans, putting money into it, there would be enough finances/ benefits to supply the world three times over and these topics would never become a concern. Maybe we should cut the term limits for Congress chair holders, take away their lifetime pension and medical benefits and let them feel the uncertain financial stresses we all will be going through. I thought that serving in Congress to serve the people it represents a duty of honor, not a duty for lifetime entitlements for Congress at the cost of the American people. Something is definitely not right! Let's over ride Congress!

 

[PineappleMama]

Quote:
You're mixing up different programs here. The COLA is by law, based on inflation. If there is no inflation then there is no adjustment. Congress did not override anything. The program is being administered as intended and as written into law.

The $250 for 2009 was part of the economic stimulus package. That package included the "Making Work Pay" tax credit of $400 per individual and $800 for married couples. It also included direct payments of $250 per person to Social Security recipients and those collecting federal disability benefits.

When it was realized that the 2010 COLA would be zero, the President advocated an additional $250 payment to SS recipients in the first quarter of 2010 which was shot down. By that time everybody was tired of the government giving away money and was starting to question what all of these "recovery" programs were going to cost.

What gets me is that you will have people hollering that they are somehow entitled to a COLA or a $250 stimulus payment and then in the next breath complain about government spending...

Whoops... saw that 250 and just ran with it... OY I swear every dern time I assume I've got the right tidbit... so... it's STILL 250 when they were expecting more... threw them a bone... it just wasn't in the stimulus check I thought it was... that everyone else got... this one was a bone specifically thrown only to the SS peeps that were going to be screwed the next year? Is that right?

I donno if that spending comment was aimed at me or not, not assuming, but off chance it was... I don't mind at all when the Gov't gives money back to the people who put it in... who had no choice in it being taken... who could have saved it and earned interest, or invested it and earned income for retirement... but instead the government does similar, eventually gives some of theirs back, and keeps the change... that's how we pay for a lot of programs... I get that... what bothers me is when we spend money ala that $5m earmark for the Kennedys when there are kids (and adults too) homeless, starving, no coats in winter... etc.

This is supposedly the best country in the world... the richest... the most free... yada... and yet we've got children starving... and all the while we blow smoke and point fingers to other countries who have the exact same problem... true ours isn't because of warlords or anything... drug lords & gangs maybe... but not full on warlords... but the government screw ups and power plays are doing damage... whether on purpose or accidental or just ignorance of the effects the people in power's decisions (and delays) are still resulting in citizens starving, freezing, even DYING in the streets.

*sigh* Sorry... that's way off, and Modly Ones feel free to snip it out... but it bums me out any time I think of it... don't vent it somewhere I'm liable to start fermenting. Well, I suppose if you figure can't be healthy without food and protection from the elements then it's SORTA related... but still.

 

[tammyd57]

Quote:
Social Security is NOT "on the public dole". You must be thinking of Welfare.
You have a home that you own, kids in college you are paying for..........I guess 'suffering' means different things to different people.

Maybe you won't live long enough to need Social Security.

 

[Royd]

Quote:
Speaking of the pioneer spirit, for most Americans, it's been long gone, as we can attest to, by your statement.
Why were you so willing to glom onto that SS for your young son, simply because the govt. said that you could, and therefore, you felt entitled?

I say, let's get rid of all govt. entitlements, and subsidies to all entities, and see just how much money the American people actually have in their pockets. Then, let the people take care of the people.

Figure out a way of taxing fairly, I.E. Fair Tax, which eliminates the hugest, most onerous, intrusive division of the US govt, from our lives, thus, truly making us a free people.

And while we are at it, do the same for private property tax....My property is not ever really mine, as long as local govt. can attach a tax lien, every year, for whatever new service that they decide the people must support...I.E. garbage tax, school tax.

Funny, that the state, which in American history, brings to mind the pioneering spirit; Oregon, has become one of the most welfare ridden, govt. intrusive states, in the nation....It is illegal to even pump your own gas, because they have deemed that the average joe isn't smart enough and might hurt himself and it keeps someone attending the pumps, for minimum wage.