4 Key Retiree Issues in Budget Deal

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I am retired military and served my entire life for my country now my
country is saying sorry we can't pay you. Well I could have stayed
home and become rich like the politicans. What about those people
that come from other countrys are sponsored by family members, and
now drawing SSI, medicaid and food stamps because they were brought
here when they were too old to work. I beleive their sponsor should take care of of them and not our government. This one way to save money
Also have the politicians take the same pay lower level military get paid
that would save more money. Stop trying to get the money off the backs
of social security receiptants, my father worked over 40 years and the
government took his money and now he receives $1000 monthly, had
he invensted the money he paid into Social Security he would have
millions of dollars instead the politicans want to cut the $1000 a month
he receives. We need to really look @ those bad career politicans. This
country cannot continue to attack the poor and stop feeding those individuals on their boats going to the carribean on pretense of doing
business when they are only going on vacation and to hide their money
from the tax collector

tflo of TX 12:25AM July 25, 2011

I never wanted Social Security deductions from my pay. I was perfectly willing to make my own retirement. However; i was not given a choice! My money was confiscated, without my consent, and now i am being told that my benefits will be reduced. This is theft pure and simple. I say revolution, throw out the bums in congress with over one term. Throw out the Liberal/Socialist in the whitehouse and let's get our country back on track with a revolution at the ballot box, before a revolution with the gun is necessary.

silver fox of TX 11:59AM July 19, 2011

1. Phase out deductions until they are the standard deduction from 150k to 250k.
This includes the mortgage and charity deduction.
1b. Up the tax rate on the 28% on tax bracket.
2. Raise the income limit on social security by 5% over inflation from now on out. Give the extra income benefits but only at 10% not 15%.
3. Charge companies and income 1% on all income over the limit. No benefits.
4. Stay at home spouses have to pay 1/2 the social security of their husband or the benefit of getting 1/2 what their spouse did goes away.
5. Up Medicare by .5% on all income between 100k and 250k and 1% thereafter.
6. Reform Medicare to cut out the expensive and unneeded expenses. We have to reign in medical costs period. It is not just the government. It is across the board.
7. Remove the child tax credit for the low income. We don't need to encourage children for those that can't afford them.

Jane of NV 5:01PM July 16, 2011

1. Mortgage interest as income deductions should be lmited not on the amount of the mortgage alone but also on the size of the house. Limiting it on the amount of the mortgage ignores significant market difference in housing costs AND does nothing to discourage low equity borrowing which caused much of the mortgage crisis. The median sales price of a new home in the U.S. is presently just over $220K. That amount can get you a 3,500 square foot, five-bedroom 3 bath single family home in Las Vegas but only a 900 squre foot one-bedroom 1 bath condo on Staten Island. Raising the mortgage limit for high cost real estate markets encourages folks in lower cost markets to overconsume housing.
2. Eliminate the income ceiling for social security payroll taxes. The current income limit entitles the employee to MAX SS benefits upon retirement making Social Security into something it was never intended to be - a compulsory, federal pension plan. Since it was intended to be a safety net, employees should not expect that benefits will increase linearly with taxes paid for the entire earnings subject to taxes. So remove the earnings limit.
3. Reduce or eliminate non-widow spousal Social Security benefits. Households should not be permitted to receive two Social Security benefit checks each month based on one contributor working the necessary 40 quarters. If one working income was sufficient for a household during the working years, one benefit check should be sufficient for retirement years. Widows/widowers could still collect on their spouse's earnings but non-widowed spouses would have to have earned their own benefit.
4. Increase federal income taxes on ALL income levels. In 2010, nearly half of U.S. households had ZERO federal tax liability. There's something wrong with a tax system that exempts half the households from paying ANY income tax. Even those making only $1,000 per year should have to pay $100 in federal income tax as they benefit from national defense, industry regulation, federal law enforcement efforts, etc.
5. Gradually raise the SS full benefit retirement age from 67 to 68 for those born after 1973. When the retirement age was last raised in 1982, it made sure no one aged 45 or older was impacted since these workers would have little time to make other adjustments. Similarly, no one born before 1968 should be impacted now. For those born after 1968, their full retirement age will increase 2 months for each year after 1968 until their birth year until the full retirement age of 78 is reach for those born 1974 and later.
This is a modest start. Other ares to address is taxing capital gains at the next lower marginal income tax rate the taxpayer is subject to. For example, for those who non-capital gains income places them in the 33% marginal tax rate, their capital gains are taxed at 28%.

Le Vale of PA 10:54AM July 12, 2011

deeToo i commend you on a well reasoned and thought out posting.as someone who receives both social security and medicare these purposed changes made by the republicans( the ryan plan ) and social security would have little effect on me.that being said,i have two childern in their mid forties who would be effected should the republicans get their way.
what is seldom brought out is that social security is solvent,and has not added one dollar to the deficit.if nothing is done to the program it would remain solvent for the next twenty years.
the current debt ceiling talks are not the venue to deal with a problem that is twenty years in the offing.

bruce b of NV 10:17AM July 12, 2011

1. Raise the SS and Medicare Tax max income to $250,000
2. Leave the employer side as-is.
3. Means testing should use the $250,000 - this time as a floor where benefits might be reduced - KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!
4. No reason to reduce payroll taxes. This is just another form of killing the programs. This has nothing to do wth weak job markets. This has all to do with the GOP agenda of killing senior programs.
Let's just increase what the wealthy pay. They have avoided taxes and not invested in America long enough.
The problem we have is that our budget balances with tax levels around 26% while we are colleting only 17%. We will NEVER be fiscally right until we get back to the revenues needed to run this country.
Reagan raised taxes, His budget had tax rates much higher on the average....Even David Stockman - Reagan's old budget guy said last week that he would raise taxes asap.
I believe we need a 2cent per dollar sales tax. We have yet to pay for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Were they free?????????????
Leave my SS and medicare benefits alone!!!! The well-off can afford to pay more, and I paid in too many years to have these 35 year old clowns tell me how I should suffer because they are unwilling to chip in.....

DeeToo of SC 11:33AM July 11, 2011