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Administration Making Efforts To Rein In Medicare Fraud.I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car..Two provisions of law, known as the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset unfairly reduce, or even completely eliminate, the Social Security benefits of millions of Americans who have devoted their careers to public service, in addition to having worked other jobs that withheld payroll taxes for Social Security..Without a doubt the public is often justifiably confused about the convoluted workings of federal benefit programs. But the one thing we are all aware of is the amount of money we pay into Social Security, which includes taxes for both retirement AND disability insurance benefits. Social Security disability benefits are earned - same as retirement benefits. Of the 12.4% payroll tax paid by workers and employers, the retirement trust fund gets 10.6% and the disability insurance trust fund gets 1.8% of the revenues collected..The "Gang of Eight's" proposal is now in the hands of the full Senate, and Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he will bring the bill to the floor in June. Until then, TSCL will continue to monitor the evolving negotiations, and we will post updates here in the Legislative News section of our website..If signed into law, S. 141 would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which was created in 2010 by the Affordable Care Act..Can the legislation be fixed in order to prevent this from happening? TSCL strongly believes that the cost of providing relief for the taxation of Social Security benefits can be worked out, if there's a will in Congress to make it happen. Provisions can be tweaked and phased in to make the budget math work. Your input at this point is critical. We urge you to write or call your Representative and ask him or her to help move this legislation that would boost your Social Security benefits, provide a slightly higher COLA, and provide a modest tax cut for millions of retirees with modest benefits..Lower than expected payroll tax revenues. Payroll taxes account for roughly 89% of Social Security's financing. But in 2020, businesses nationwide temporarily shuttered due to emergency stay at home orders. In addition, widespread layoffs, reductions in work hours, and job losses resulted in the collection of fewer payroll tax revenues. Emergency legislation that was passed last year allowed employers to even temporarily defer payment of Social Security payroll taxes until December of 2022 to help companies shore up cash flow and stay in business. While the job market is getting back on its feet again in 2021, unemployment is still higher than it was prior to the pandemic, and payroll tax revenue has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels..Last month the Trump administration reported that a future COVID-19 vaccine would be free for nearly all Americans, except for seniors with traditional Medicare coverage.