News

Increase the payroll taxable maximum to cover all earnings. Currently high - income workers pay no Social Security taxes on earnings over 8,500. That means someone earning 0,000 stopped paying Social Security taxes at the end of March while middle and low - income earners continue to pay Social Security taxes on all their earnings, all year long. This one change alone would bolster both the disability and retirement program for decades to come..Changes in home housekeeping and maintenance. Is there a change in housekeeping and how well your friend maintains her home and yard? Is there clutter piled everyone, and garbage needing to be removed? Does the lawn look weedy and overgrown?.Many seniors in our community struggle month to month to make ends meet on budgets that just can't cover today's high cost of living. Today's troubled economy is leaving the elderly in a financial pinch, particularly since a large majority of senior citizens rely on Social Security benefits as their main source of income..Social Security benefit "boost" legislation under consideration in the House not only would boost benefits by about per month on average, it also includes a provision that would allow senior taxpayers to keep more of their money. Under current law, up to 50% of Social Security benefits are taxable when the sum of the recipients' modified adjusted gross income, plus half of Social Security benefits, exceeds ,000 for a couple filing jointly, or ,000 for a single taxpayer. As much as 85% of Social Security benefits may be taxable when the income is above ,000 for joint filers, or ,000 single filers. Revenues from the taxation of Social Security benefits flow to the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, and go towards the financing of benefits..The programs were struggling even before sequester. Federal funding has remained flat for years, even though about 10,000 Baby Boomers retire every day..The proposal is at odds with how older Americans think Congress should address Social Security revenues, according to TSCL's 2017 Senior Survey, which is conducted nationally through the mail and online. When asked about options to shore up Social Security financing, 58 percent of participants said they support proposals that would very gradually increase the payroll tax rate by 1 percent each for workers and employers. The largest percentage, 73 percent, support raising the amount of wages subject to Social Security, currently 7,200, to cover all wages..More than 45 million Social Security beneficiaries were receiving benefits by 2000. The beneficiaries who are still alive are the group that has absorbed the fullest extent of the COLA cuts to date, which compound like interest, growing deeper over time. Chaining the COLA would cut benefits for this group an additional 10% through 2025, the analysis found..Does the Start of Obamacare Affect Me?.As we said earlier, the end of the federal government's 2020 fiscal year is fast approaching and unless Congress can pass new funding legislation before then, we face the possibility of another government shutdown. Last week the House of Representatives passed a four-bill fiscal 2021 spending package, advancing its first annual funding measure of the year. The legislation includes State and Foreign Operations, Agriculture-FDA, Interior-Environment, and Military Construction-VA funding.