[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by ElDiabloJoe

Bill, I might be wrong, but it sounds like you are assuming that a double-dipper earned both a Federal pension and Federal social security benefits. MOST of those impacted by this were teachers at the local level, and city police and fireman MOST of whom receive pensions from their county or state, not the Federal government.

The Federal government is not paying people twice in most cases. They are paying people for benefits (40 credits) earned in private employment, and local/state pensions they paid into are paying their pensions.

Social Security was supposed to be part of a proverbial three-legged stool for retirement: Employer pension, social security, and savings. Sadly, many only have the one leg of that stool to rely upon. The newer approach to 401(k)/IRA/SEP/Keough etc, became popular since so many employer pensions were raided and depleted (auto manufactures and airlines are classic examples). Now many only pay into 401(k) as their savings, so they foolishly combine those two stool legs.

Anyhow, this Social Security Fairness Act is not about giving people both pensions and social security if they did not pay into both. They "Fairness" comes from getting the full benefit for your years of paying into social security and not having your benefit reduced 70% or down to zero simply because you worked for the City of New York instead of Microsoft. It's like reducing your social security 70% because Microsoft granted you stock options throughout your career there - why should you get both stock options AND social security, right?

If the public pension was funded in lieu of paying SS tax then it is reasonable that the reductions would apply.

SS was never intended to be part of a three-legged stool. 401Ks did not exist when SS was created. Public pension programs funded with money that would otherwise have gone to SS never envisioned the recipient receiving SS. The govt’s CSRS was an example of this - no SS payments and no 401K, just a generous pension adequate to retire on.

The govt’s FERS is an example of the three-legged stool program.