Elderly Workers Paying into Social Security But Getting Less in Their Monthly Social Security Check
by John Lawrence, November 17, 2018
At the ripe old age of 77, I'm still working. Fortunately, I have good health and am still able to do so. I actually get pleasure at being a functioning, productive member of society. However, my monthly social security check, which I started receiving at the age of 62, gets less with each passing year despite the fact that I still pay into social security due to a self-employment tax of 15.3%. Because I am self-employed as an Uber and Lyft driver, I pay the employer's and the employee's share of social security tax. The social security tax is 12.4% and I also pay 2.9% Medicare tax despite the fact that I pay a Medicare premium each month for health insurance. So old people working get screwed six ways to Sunday.
In 2016 I received a monthly social security benefit of $735.90. My Medicare monthly premium was $104.90. So the amount that the Social Security Administration deposited in my checking account each month was $631. Now despite the fact that I'm still working and paid $430. self employment tax in 2017, which should have given me an increase in my monthly social security check because the amount you get depends on the total amount paid in and I'm still paying in, the amount deposited in my account each month has gone down to $618. How could this be possible, you might ask? The answer is simple. I was given a paltry $1 a month increase in social security based on the fact that I paid $430 into it so the government made $418 off me in self employment tax for 2017. However, my monthly Medicare premium went up to $134. So my Medicare premiums are going up much more than the paltry amounts the government thinks I should get because I'm still working and paying in to social security. In short I'm getting ripped off as an elderly person who still works.
You know the government likes to screw the old and the poor. It announced in my annual letter the following: "Your Social Security benefits will increase by 2.0% in 2018 because of a rise in the cost of living." So despite the fact that I'm still paying into social security and despite the fact that I got an increase in my benefits due to a "rise in the cost of living" my monthly social security check which is deposited directly into my checking account went down by $13! How's that for a screw job?
Meanwhile, the rich got a huge tax break due to Trump's giveaway to the rich. Inequality grew even greater. The gap between the rich and the poor widened. The ranks of the homeless increased. You can't even rent a room for $618. much less buy food or medicine. The government will give much more in a monthly social security check to millionaires who don't even need it than it will to poor people that have paid into it for 60 years or more.
I am fortunate. I have other sources of income than my monthly social security check, and I'm still in good health so I can still work. I only work part time so I still get to take a 4 hour break in my work as an Uber and Lyft driver each day during which I swim, have lunch and take a nap. So I'm still able to do everything I want to do in retirement. But, if this government gave a hoot about old people, they wouldn't require them to keep paying into social social security after retirement age despite the fact they might be still working. That would have saved me $430. last year.
