Securing social security, solutions over scares

To the Editor:

Let’s stay focused on the real problems and important long term solutions when it comes to Social Security.

The news these days is full of stories regarding Social Security — employee cuts, new requirements for beneficiaries, purported fraud, possible bankruptcy, and proposed changes to taxation of benefits. In the midst of this chaos, we’d be wise to keep our eye on the two things of greatest importance to everyone — the long term financial solvency of Social Security and the ability of the Social Security Administration agency to serve its beneficiaries.

Social Security is at its core “economic insurance” for people with disabilities and for retirees, especially those not well off financially and those in the middle class. In return for paying into the system during our working years (along with matches from our employers) during retirement we are guaranteed steady payments until our deaths, and our spouses can receive benefits even after we die.

News stories over the past few years have repeatedly and erroneously stated that Social Security will run out of money in the next seven or eight years. It won’t because people who are working will continue having social security taxes withheld from their paychecks, and these largely fund the benefits checks retirees receive in any one year. What will run out if nothing changes is the trust fund that helps cover annual benefits costs. This is because the payroll taxes withheld no longer completely cover the payouts. If the trust fund dries up as projected by 2033, the monthly benefits checks will be reduced by around a quarter of what would have otherwise been received.

More recently, the idea of not paying federal taxes on monthly benefits checks people receive is being tossed around. While any tax break sounds good in principle, it does not promote long term financial solvency for Social Security because federal taxes on Social Security benefits go right back into the Trust Fund. To top it off, the economically least fortunate people whose retirement income is mostly Social Security (about half of recipients) already pay no federal tax on any of it, so this does not help them at all. The wealthiest social security recipients gain the most from the proposal and need it the least.

In 2024, the Social Security Administration already had its lowest staffing levels in decades while serving an increasing number of beneficiaries and without receiving adequate funding for critical updates to computer and software systems. Further reductions in staffing and other new requirements are making it more difficult for retirees to get timely service from the agency. Customer service levels are falling. People are complaining. 

Claims of widespread fraud and abuse, such as the recent statements that millions of people over 110 years old are receiving Social Security checks, are just not true. These kinds of statements distract from the real problems at hand and do nothing to help solve them.

Many of you, your parents, and/or your grandparents are relying on social security benefits you already receive as part or all of retirement income. Others who suffer with disabilities have the same reliance. The rest of Americans have already planned for and counted on some social security benefits in their retirement or will be doing so in the coming years. The younger generation is starting to wonder if anything resembling social security will be available to them.

Paul Strong

Hazelhurst