19 million Americans pay tax on SS benifits, will you be

[doc03]

one of them? Many people don't realize that SS can be taxable.



Jan 29, 2017 at 7:20AM
To get Social Security retirement benefits, you have to work for at least 10 years, and therefore many retirees see their Social Security checks as something they've earned. Yet that doesn't stop Uncle Sam from taking its cut of your benefits in the form of income taxes. Not everyone on Social Security has to pay tax, but those who do can end up having to include as much as 85% of their benefits as taxable income on their tax returns. Below, we'll look more closely at how taxation of Social Security works and just how much the typical American ends up having to include on their tax returns.

http://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/01/29/19-million-americans-pay-tax-on-social-security-be.aspx

[Hoyt]

1. I think the thresholds are a little low, but don't really have a problem taxing it for people with a

good bit of other income.

[BlueMTexpat]

2. My husband and I pay

small amounts of taxes on our SS income.

But we can afford to do so - and I am happy to do so as long as other will continue to benefit from SS income.

[classof56]

3. I'm already one of them.

Have been ever since I went on Social Security. IIRC, it's something Ronald Reagan put in place during his "reign". Don't really mind, since I figure paying taxes is part of my responsibility as a citizen. Of course, I paid into Social Security all my working life, during which time I also paid federal and state income taxes. Again--I continue to do so on my SS income.

Thanks for your informative post.

Peace.

[doc03]

4. That tax was started back in 1983 when $25000 for a single person and

$32000 for a married couple was a pretty comfortable income. Adjusted for inflation
those numbers would be $60000 and $77000 today. As the article says more people
are getting hit with it every year as inflation increases. Eventually anyone that has any
pension or 401K is going to be affected by that tax. Someday if it is never changed
we will be paying tax on SS even if you have no outside income. It is means testing
something Democrats always say they are against. We pay into FICA (which is a tax)
to fund SS then when we get our benefits we are paying tax on that tax that we paid.
Doesn't make sense to me. I worked over 40 years and put some money away in a 401k
(now an IRA), last year I withdrew $12500 to buy a car. On that $12500 extra income it
raised my tax bill $3765 that is 30% tax. The tax bracket is only 28% for a single person
with a GTI of over $190000. To try and make it simple I am taxed roughly 15% on the
$12,500 which I have no problem with but that also makes the same amount of SS taxable
at 15%