In reading Molly Ivins’ column about Social Security it made me
feel a need to put pen in hand.
Dear Editor,
In reading Molly Ivins’ column about Social Security it made me feel a need to put pen in hand.
Ms. Ivins writes a syndicated column and should be careful about not having the information accurate. Being an employer who pays into the system, I probably pay closer attention than Ms. Ivins. The maximum Social Security tax is based upon is $90,000 per employee. She stated that it was only $80,000. Annually this amount increases by $2,500 to $3,000 with no end in sight. MediCare tax goes on forever and ever no matter what the employee makes. If a husband and wife both have jobs that pay $50,000 each they are actually paying on $100,000. How many married couples do you know making $180,000 between the two of them? So the bulk of us never get out from under the tax in any given year. Then employers match the employee’s contributions. I love that term “contributions,” it sounds so much nicer than “taxes.”
The youth of America need to start planning for a time when there is no Social Security and MediCare. That will not be in the near future but very possibly in the next 50 to 75 years. The present administration is right on target when trying to implement a plan that allows for the individual to invest their Social Security tax in an investment of their own choosing. Eventually the individual can be responsible for the full amount and not just a portion.
This will make the individual more responsible and not learn to depend on the government to be responsible for their future. This nation will become stronger with free-thinking responsible citizens. Little by little the government needs to become smaller and the private sector larger. This will not be achieved without some pain and sacrifice because no one wants their government program to be affected by cutbacks. The old saying, “It depends on who’s ox is being gored.”
John L. Sander, Hollister
