No matter how you spin it, in 2009 half the population paid no federal income tax and a good portion of those had money given to them by the federal government via the Earned Income Tax Credit. This same group of people also uses government services at a much higher rate than the people who area actually paying for said services. The people who pay are getting angry and when this happens compassion goes out the window. Whats going to happen when all of the boomer are on SS? Do you think the younger generations who are are stuck paying their bill are going to just crimp their lifestyle and sacrifice their way of life? I dont think so and it will be ugly.
Like you say, that was 2009 (a nightmare year when thousands of people lost their jobs and went on unemployment benefits). The thing is the spin we hear most is that 50% of American's are paying no tax. I think a lot of people hear that as "right now" half the population is leeching on the system, sucking up welfare checks, food stamps, and spending their days drinking and smoking while their kids are at some government sponsored daycare. I have a hard time believing half you country is doing that...lol. If a family with two kids is earning 26,000/yr gross I'm not looking for them to pay federal tax. They'd still be paying taxes in numerous other forms. I don't know how they get by. It all seems like a deflection to me. No-one seems angry about GE not only not paying taxes but actually getting a 3.2 billion dollar corporate tax refund in 2010. Just saying there is more to the problem than that one group of people who are abusing social programs. Even is you stopped all the social programs today it wouldn't come close to balancing the budget. I think you are absolutely right to be concerned about future generations footing the bill. Our governments have been buying our votes , using our children's credit cards, for decades.
BTW Bruce, According to the Tax Policy Center for the 2010 tax years 46% of taxpayers do not pay income tax. Not 50%, but dang close.
LOL..Things are getting better You know, one thing that gives me hope. Think of the devastation of Europe after WWII. Many nations were struggling with incredible debt. It didn't take long to make an incredible recover.
Bruce, those that work do pay social security taxes and certainly they pay sales taxes and property taxes, assuming they are not living in subsidized housing. The problem is that when you take those that have incomes low enough that they don't even have to file income taxes and add those that have incomes low enough that they actually get more money back than they paid in, the number does get close to that 50% mark. Most of the programs that create the disparity in taxes were meant to provide some social good. As with what seems like almost all government programs, a good idea becomes just another black hole where money disappears. What needs to be done here in the US is to make changes on both ends of the spectrum. We need to cut down on the entitlements and also raise taxes. Bill mentioned the boomers, of which I qualify, and their social security nut. When I started working in the mid-70's the maximum social security taxable wages were somewhere south of $5,000. Now we're at $110,000. The percentage was around 2% and now it's just below 8%. Changes do need to be made to that program or it will go bust. Something like 30% of social security recipients are getting disability payments. That is a program that is so highly abused that it would make your head spin. I have clients who make over $500,000 per year who draw social security. Personally I think there should be an income limit on who can draw. If you are making over $150,000 and you're retired then you should start losing some of your benefits. By the time someone hits $250,000 they shouldn't be receiving social security. A lot of folks voted for hope and change. What they got was more of the same garbage that we have been getting for decades now. Sadly I don't see anyone out there who will make things any better. Maybe Romney. We can only hope for this change.
Twin, it would not take long after paring SS benefits back that people would start realize what a poor program it is. I am sure in my lifetime that it will not exist as we currently know it.
Ben, it has to be changed. It started out as simply a safety net for people who couldn't take care of themselves financially in their later years. Now it is an "entitlement" where everyone is entitled to it. When it started the average life expectancy in the US was around 62, now it's over 80 and climbing. Almost all of us will be "entitled" to draw out more than we paid in to the system. Presidents seem to like to add people to the social security roles. Clinton was famous for allowing those over the full retirement age of 66 (now, but it was 65) to draw full benefits and continue working. The plus is that they continue to pay into the system, but the big minus is that they draw out much more than they pay in. At 66 I can draw about $2,500 a month in social security or about $30,000 a year. If my income were to be $100,000 I'll pay in from my deductions and my employer match $15,300. It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that system doesn't work out well. It used to be that you had to work until you were 70 to draw full benefits and still work. Lots of changes are needed to the system, but the $64 billion question is who has the brass kahunas necessary to change it?
Dub, Or is it "W"?? Your thought processes seem illogical to me, and perhaps others here. Are you constantly trying to pull otherr people's chains or are you incapable of understanding others comments here? Which is it? I applaud this seal team rescue and will not lose 2 seconds sleep over the pirates killed. I believe the real psychology here for you is that you, like so many others, believed Obama was some kind of "peace candidate" who would end all wars, unite the middle east, and have all peoples singing Kumbaya. The opposite has turned out to be the case: He is an effective, low-key killer. What is comical to me are the assertions of his liberal base: "I'll bet we knew nothing of the car bomb assassination of that Iranian nuclear engineer 2 weeks ago." What are you? Operating as a child does?? WE are conducting joint CIA/Seal Team operations in over 50 countries NOW... And WE had boots-on-the-ground within 20 miles of Libya's capital before Quaddafi's ouster, as opposed to "the USA directed the NATO operations from afar"...
I believe the next 10 years will be the most entertaining (assuming you are financially prepared so as not to be enmeshed yourself) as some 38 million baby boomers become eligible to retire. Since only 56% (per the WSJ) have $25,000 saved for retirement I predict these boomers claw and scrape their way onto the life raft of social security mindless of the effects to the taxpayers at that time (which are the younger generation now, who appear to be asleep). We have protests now about the divide between rich and poor but the protests then will be between young and old. What the young (now) don't get is that we boomers vote in high percentages and we will MAKE them pay our social security incomes and the national debt we will have left them.
