Donald Trump made a lot of promises about Social Security while he was running for president that people really liked. He gave millions of retirees hope by saying he wouldn’t change how Social Security works and would keep the retirement age the same.
He also came up with some ideas that seemed to be very well received. For example, he wanted to get rid of federal taxes on Social Security benefits so that people who depend on them would have less to pay in taxes.
While the campaign, these ideas got a lot of support. However, making these changes to Social Security will be very hard because some of the promises may hurt the program as it is now. Let’s break it down to get a better sense of what it means.
Will there be changes to the retirement age in the US?
While running for office, Trump’s first promise was to keep the current retirement age scale. Congress has been thinking about raising the full retirement age for years as a way to make up for Social Security’s shortfall, but the public has always been against it, and no steps have been taken to make it happen.
Trump wants to keep the current retirement age, which is between 66 and 67 years old depending on the beneficiary’s date of birth, instead of raising it to 70 years old as planned.
In fact, Trump has promised not to make any changes that would affect current or future Social Security recipients. This means that retirees will be able to start getting their full benefits at the age they had planned, without having to change their plans or wait longer.
The current shortfall in Social Security funds can’t really be fixed by raising the retirement age. The program is expected to run out of money by 2033, so it’s way too early to see any big changes from raising the retirement age to 70.
However, the measure could help strengthen the program for the future. That being said, it would be easy to keep this campaign promise, and it wouldn’t hurt the American people in any way.
The Importance of Federal Tax Exemption for Retirees on Social Security
A tax break on Social Security benefits from the Federal government is another idea that Trump put forward that has been warmly welcomed by US retirees. At the moment, Social Security benefits are taxed if the person receiving them has provisional income of more than $25,000 or if a married couple filing jointly has provisional income of more than $32,000.
In this case, the benefits can be taxed up to 50%. This means that a lot of people who get benefits will have less money coming in because they have to pay taxes on it if they have other income besides benefits.
Not only would getting rid of these taxes make things easier financially for retirees, but it would also let people use their full Social Security income to pay for things like housing, food, and medical bills.
There are two problems with this idea. The first thing to know is that “provisional income” does not mean income from Social Security. To find a person’s provisional income, add up their gross income, interest that isn’t taxed, and 50% of their Social Security benefits.
This means that people who are taxed have savings besides Social Security benefits that will help them in retirement, while people who need it the most are already not taxed because they make too much money. This plan would only help retirees who are wealthy and can easily pay for basic needs.
The other problem is that these taxes are needed to replenish the Social Security Trust. The poorest Americans will be the ones most affected by the program’s even bigger shortfall, even though Trump promised to protect it.
Read Also :- Social Security Announces 4 New Changes to 2025 Payments – Be Ready Retirees