What does the thread title, "Taxing the Rich" have to do with your original post? This is just more hysterical nonsense from you...vague and not based in fact. I suggest you go back and hit the history books in an effort to find some basis for your claims. The act that made Social Security Benefits taxable occured in 1983 and was signed into law by that great Republican icon, Ronald Reagan who like congress was following the bipartisan commision set up to make changes to the Social Security System. http://www.ssa.gov/history/1983amend.html "•Beginning in 1984, includes up to one-half of Social Security benefits as taxable income for taxpayers whose adjusted gross income, combined with half their benefits and any tax-exempt interest they may have exceeds $25,000 for a single taxpayer and $32,000 for married taxpayers filing jointly. Benefits received by married taxpayers filing separately are taxable without regard to other income. Appropriates amounts equal to estimated tax liability to the Social Security trust funds. " For someone claiming to be so smart, you really are pretty dumb. Your claims are never based in actual fact. http://www.ssa.gov/history/InternetMyths2.html President Johnson did nothing to allow comingling of Trust Funds and the General Fund. He created the unified budget - put all federal expenditures and income on one budget. That does not mean funds were comingled as you claim. "Q1. Which political party took Social Security from the independent trust fund and put it into the general fund so that Congress could spend it? A1: There has never been any change in the way the Social Security program is financed or the way that Social Security payroll taxes are used by the federal government. The Social Security Trust Fund was created in 1939 as part of the Amendments enacted in that year. From its inception, the Trust Fund has always worked the same way. The Social Security Trust Fund has never been "put into the general fund of the government." Most likely this question comes from a confusion between the financing of the Social Security program and the way the Social Security Trust Fund is treated in federal budget accounting. Starting in 1969 (due to action by the Johnson Administration in 1968) the transactions to the Trust Fund were included in what is known as the "unified budget." This means that every function of the federal government is included in a single budget. This is sometimes described by saying that the Social Security Trust Funds are "on-budget." This budget treatment of the Social Security Trust Fund continued until 1990 when the Trust Funds were again taken "off-budget." This means only that they are shown as a separate account in the federal budget. But whether the Trust Funds are "on-budget" or "off-budget" is primarily a question of accounting practices--it has no effect on the actual operations of the Trust Fund itself. " - Social Security Administration, Debunking Internet Myths. "Q2: Which political party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding? A2: There was never any provision of law making the Social Security taxes paid by employees deductible for income tax purposes. In fact, the 1935 law expressly forbid this idea, in Section 803 of Title VIII." - Social Security Administration, Debunking Internet Myths.
