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Jeff Shepherd
Social Security
SOCIAL SECURITY:
When Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised:
 
1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary,
 
2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the Program,  
 
3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income tax each year,
 
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, and,
 
5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.

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 U.S.

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 SSI Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!
My Comments: Someone recently wrote me and suggested that I had sent out an Email saying that the US Congress does not pay into Social Security. I have seen the Email he was describing but I did not send it out because it is not true. Here is a link to what Urban Legends has to say about that Email.


I have never been a fan of Social Security. Ministers have the option of opting out of it if they do so within the first few months of active ministry. When I was on church staff I did just that because I felt it was inappropriate for the government to tax me as a retirement benefit when there was no guarantee I would ever receive one penny of my contributions.

My father died when I was 29 years old. He was 63 at the time and my sister was 23. My parents were divorced and he received a death benefit check of only $255.00 after paying into Social Security for over 40 years. That’s it, just $255.00. That convinced me that there was something terribly wrong with this system. After leaving active ministry I had no choice but to pay Social Security taxes beginning in 1992 but if I had my choice I still wouldn’t pay into it.

I support the President’s proposal to privatize Social Security except that I would increase the percentage to the full amount of Social Security contributions. I like the fact that the portion that is in your private fund can be passed down to your children and grandchildren. Why would I want to give it to the government?

Even if it meant that I would not receive one penny of what I have contributed to FICA to this day I would still support the concept because what we have right now is socialism pure and simple. It does not encourage personal responsibility and takes money from those who earn it and gives it to those who don’t. If I want to do that on a personal level that is one thing but I will never favor letting the government do it for me. If someone does not want to work they don’t deserve to be supported. If someone can’t work then there are other ways that we can help them without government participation. That is the responsibility of churches and non-profit organizations that can monitor the results more carefully. We need to encourage personal responsibility and Social Security doesn’t do that in its present form.

Jeff Shepherd
Bastiat Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Ronald Reagan (1986)
Since May 17, 2003

 

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