Quote:
Originally Posted by donquixote99
But Reagan is the biggest offender in that he pushed through the largest SS tax increase with the lying promise that the money would make the program secure. What the money did, of course, was help with the huge deficit he had going.
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Exactly.
What Reagan did was do a double whammy on Social Security by raising the payroll tax rate from 5.4% to 6.2%, while at the same time cutting benefits by raising the full retirement age from 65 to 67.
Actually it was a triple whammy in that he reduced the top income tax bracket from 70% to 28% which then led to huge deficits which the right wing is now trying to use as justification for more cuts.
These changes were phased in over time so personally I only got hit with a one year increase in my full retirement age. It went from 65 to 66. But I went ahead and started by Social Security at 65, because when I got my first job in 1963 that's what it was, and I consider that a contract that I had with the government which they are now in breach of. So by taking it at 65 I only got 93.3333% of what I should have gotten. That means that today my check is $138 a month less than it should be. I believe that gives me justification for a lawsuit against the US government.
