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need to re-evaluate how your money is invested and your need for dividend or.Some seniors may also experience income tax hikes this year particularly those who rely on investment income. Taxpayers with total incomes greater than 0,000 for individuals or 0,000 for joint filers will face a new 3.8 percent surtax on investment income. The Senior Citizens League fears that this new tax will disproportionately affect seniors at a time when they are struggling to keep up with rising costs. According to the Tax Foundation, reliance on investment income tends to increase with age, and 36 percent of taxpayers with dividend income and 38 percent with capital gains income are seniors..Compare plans: Once you have entered all the information you will get your results. The results are available for both 2012 and 2013, but check and see which you are looking at. You first should compare how your current coverage is changing for 201You will also be surprised by what a difference a year makes in your lowest cost plan from 2012 to 201When making comparisons, check all the details. The results page allows you to compare up to three plans side by side. This is enormously helpful when juggling so many plans and details. Check the boxes of three you would like to compare. When comparing health plans, for example, you will see links to health plan benefits, drug costs and coverage, and plan ratings. Click each and print out results..Net qualified disaster losses from a federally declared disaster..The Social Security Fairness Act, if signed into law, would amend the Social Security Act by repealing the government pension offset and the windfall elimination provision. TSCL believes that these two provisions unfairly reduce the earned Social Security benefits of millions of teachers, firefighters, peace officers, and other state or local government employees each year. We were pleased to see support grow for the Social Security Fairness Act this week..Social Security disability benefits are financed through the taxes paid by workers and their employers on earnings up to a cap of 7,000. Of the 6.2% that each pays, 0.9% goes to Disability Insurance and the rest goes to pay retirement and survivors benefits..Half of the medications that saw price hikes followed price increases in 2019 and 2020, according to the report..Specifically, the WEP reduces the earned Social Security benefits of an individual paying into the system from one job while receiving a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security. Educators are just one example of folks especially hard hit when they take a summer job. The GPO significantly cuts by two-thirds the spousal benefits of federal, state and local employees in jobs not covered by Social Security such as police officers, firefighters, and educators..With regard to your specific concerns on Social Security COLAs, as you are fully aware, after a person becomes entitled to receive Social Security benefits, his or her monthly benefit was designed to increase annually to maintain purchasing power over time. The amount of the COLA is based on inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. If the CPI rises, Social Security benefits for the next year increase proportionately. If the CPI falls, Social Security benefits stay the same. Like you, I too have long been critical of this formula that measures the level of inflation in our economy because older Americans have different needs than the "typical" American. In addition, the current CPI fails to adequately reflect the fact that seniors rely more on medical goods and services, which have a much higher inflation rate.