A very old meme/pile of lies has been making the rounds again claiming that FDR promised a bunch of stuff he didn’t promise when he established Social Security that Democrats broke.
If you have the bandwidth to speak up in your elderly relatives comments who are now re-sharing this, I have a response you can copy and paste if you want, responding to each point.
Our Social Security
Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program.
Correct, minus the FICA error.
Source: 1935 Social Security Act.
He promised:
1) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary,
No longer Voluntary
Incorrect. He did not promise this; he created a tax. Taxes are not voluntary.
2) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the Program,
Incorrect. He did not promise this. The tax rate in the original 1935 law was 1% each on the employer and the employee, on the first $3,000 of earnings. This rate was increased on a regular schedule.
Sources: “Debunking Some Internet Myths,” Social Security Administration website; 1935 Social Security Act.
Now 7.65% on the first $90,000.
Incorrect. The tax on Social Security income is 6.2% up to $175,000.
Source: Internal Revenue Service.
3) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year,
No longer tax deductible
Incorrect. Social Security has never been tax deductible; the original act forbade it.
Source: Social Security Act 1935, Title VIII: Taxes With Respect to Employment.
4) That the money the participants put in went to the Independent ‘Trust Fund’ rather than into the General Operating Fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and,
Under Johnson the money was moved to The General Fund and spent.
Incorrect, and also complicated. Source: “Research Note #20: The Social Security Trust Funds and the Federal Budget,” Social Security Administration.
5) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.
Under Clinton & Gore up to 85% of your Social Security can be taxed.
The first part is incorrect, and the part that is correct seems intentionally misleading. FDR made no such promise, although it wasn’t taxed for nearly 50 years until President Reagan’s administration. A split Congress approved his plan to tax 50% of Social Security income in 1983.
Source: Social Security Amendments of 1983.
The Clinton administration did raise this tax to 85%, but only on high-income earners. Source: The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.
Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month – and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to ‘put away — you may be interested in the following:
Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the Independent ‘Trust Fund’ and put it into the General Fund so that Congress could spend it?
A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democratically controlled House and Senate.
Incorrect. No one did this. Source: “Research Note #20: The Social Security Trust Funds and the Federal Budget,” Social Security Administration.
Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?
A: The Democratic Party.
Incorrect. No one did this. Social Security has never been tax deductible; the original act forbade it. Source: Social Security Act 1935, Title VIII: Taxes With Respect to Employment.
Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?
A: The Democratic Party with Al Gore casting the ‘tie-breaking’ deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the U.S.
Incorrect. President Reagan’s sought-after and heavily lobbied-for Social Security Amendments of 1983 were passed by a split Congress and signed into law by a Republican president.
Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?
A: That’s right!
Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party.
Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!
Incorrect; Jimmy Carter did nothing regarding Social Security and immigrants. That said, Social Security has never been based on country of origin; it’s based on payroll taxes.
Since its inception, immigrants to the U.S. have paid the same amount into Social Security as everyone else; it’s a built-in payroll tax. Those who have been issued Social Security numbers can collect on Social Security based on what they’ve put into it when they reach their 60s; immigrants without Social Security numbers, in fact, never receive a single dime of the thousands and thousands of dollars they have put into the system.
Then, after violating the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!
And the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it!
Incorrect. The Democrats have not violated any original contract; there was no original contract. There was simply the 1935 Social Security Act, which subsequent administrations amended in various injurious ways— the Republicans with more verve, greed, and hamfistedness; the Democrats with more spineless roll-over-ness.
Haddayr Copley-Woods 