SS calculations for the middle class - Results are ugly

[christof]

Well I was bored and thinking about Social Security, so I did some calculations.

Lets say I'm middle class and will average $60,000 over my working carrer of 45 years.

Social Security takes 15.3%,

BUT...

if the government did not take that money from me, I could invest it at a very conservative 3%.

After 45 years I would have $872385.

My life expectancy (white male) is 73 years old, so I will withdraw it over 6 years starting at age 67.

My annual withdrawl amount is $156349, or $13029 per month.

Now, back to the Social Security system, I will be returned a maximum of $579 per month.

So basically, under Social Security, I will get less than 5% of the amount I would have had.

We are getting screwed guys. Are my calculations wrong, or is this just a big ugly hole I'm dumping money into?

 

[bulldog77]

You think the return is bad now, wait until W lets the financial interests(who elected him) loot the system through his contrived 'private accounts' where the government gets a bigger cut than now.

 

[christof]

I agree wholeheartedly.

The proposed system goes nowhere near any fair or rational solution.

Short of abolition (the best solution), how about deducting from social security taxes the amount I save? Like say I save 15%, I wouldn't have to pay SS? I still hate this option because it forces me to do somthing I don't want to.

I seriously doubt I will see this monster gone in my lifetime.

 

[Dawoofdaddy]

Once everyone realizes that nothing exists in the Social Insecurity Trust Fund they will be really angry.

 

[docmercer--banned]

Social Security is a "voluntary" program ...

the IRS ia legal entity and all "incomes earned inside the continental United States are not taxable" and that code is buried so deep inside the tax books that most Americans are clueless

Do thy homework fellas .... you will be shocked to find out how bad you are getting screwed

 

[docmercer--banned]

make that:

ILLEGAL entity ....

 

[eek.]

You have a weird system, it seems to be a kinda slush fund.
Does any SS go towards the public healthcare system?

I notice the R&D for many private sector drugs is subsidised by the taxpayer.

-----------------------------------------------
In America, most pharmaceutical and medical research is paid for with government money. During the 1990s the federal government spent over $10 billion annually on pharmaceutical R&D. According to a major internal federal study (that only saw the light of day when Ralph Nader's group Public Citizen forced its release under the Freedom of Information Act), taxpayer-funded scientists conducted 85 percent of the research, tests and trials that created the top five drugs of 1995. Ulcer-treating Zantac and the anti-herpes drug Zovirax were among the drugs created and tested almost entirely with grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Given such lavish federal aid it is no surprise that Fortune routinely ranks the pharmaceutical industry "more profitable than any other." To the extent that pharmaceutical firms do spend, they devote almost as much to advertising and lobbying as to research. On average drug companies shell out $2 billion annually on marketing.

http://www.alternet.org/story/16271

http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/19/19/16.html

You guys are being screwed by a screwey system...
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=954

 

[docmercer--banned]

I have a client who knows the tax codes inside / outside ...

has not paid taxes since 96 ... again, Social Security is a "voluntary contribution" ....

2001 gets a letter from the IRS telling her she owes 28k ...
she fires back a letter showing her where she is in violation of code 28.034 (forgive me .... dont remember the whole sect / code #) and the IRS sends back a letter stating their mistake

If the avg American understood how back they are getting screwed by Uncle Sam when it comes to the tax code ...

 

[edub69]

I have a client who knows the tax codes inside / outside ...

has not paid taxes since 96 ... again, Social Security is a "voluntary contribution" ....

2001 gets a letter from the IRS telling her she owes 28k ...
she fires back a letter showing her where she is in violation of code 28.034 (forgive me .... dont remember the whole sect / code #) and the IRS sends back a letter stating their mistake

If the avg American understood how back they are getting screwed by Uncle Sam when it comes to the tax code ...

More info please? Does she not have taxes withheld, or does she somehow recoup the money that is automatically withheld? This doesn't seem plausible.

 

[stl198287]

I would like to know how I would not have to pay taxes while having zero dollars withheld from my check. It sounds as if one would have to know how to talk to the IRS.

 

[SVT_Cobra]

I've heard that paying federal taxes are voluntary. I actually heard this from some one that used to work at the IRS. He is trying to get the work out via a book and website. But I don't have the address with me.

Whether it is voluntary or not, we all know that if you do not pay you taxes, the government will come down on you like a hammer.

I'd like to know how your friend has gotten away with it since 96 while living in the US. I'm not doubting that she has, I'm just wondering how.