Well I just noticed on my online banking / payroll tax increase

swapped jobs since then.
Dont care about last year.

But you are right russian, I should be happy about the fact that I have 6k less to spend on me and my family in 2013.
WTF am I thinking?

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payroll tax increase, 6k less a year in our pockets.

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The payroll tax went up 2%, but isn't SS tax capped at around 110K?

So even if both you and your wife make over 110K individually, your tax increase couldn't be over $4500 for the year, right?

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The payroll tax went up 2%, but isn't SS tax capped at around 110K? So even if both you and your wife make over 110K individually, your tax increase couldn't be over $4500 for the year, right?

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The cap went up to $113,700 and the withholding went up from 4.2% to 6.2%. The max you pay into SS increased to $7,049.40, a jump of $2,425.20.

1) You can't opt out of SS.
2) The whole damn thing is already underwater.
3) Benefits weren't reduced when taxes were cut.

Same old shell game. People don't mind receiving the benefits but don't like to pay the cost. Forward!

This is Poli Board fodder.

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Did you celebrate last year when those same taxes went down?

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This being where everyone's logic tends to fail...

Now that SS withholdings have started again my take home is down 1200 from last check in December.
Time to start watching the spending, I was rolling there for while.

If it's any consolation, in theory you get it back when you start drawing Social Security. Plus your employer kicks in the amount for you.

Of course, that assumes all will be well then, but that's another topic.

Family is.

FIFY

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THE Social Security with-holding is not a tax. It's an investment in history's largest pyramid scheme.

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Our government <sometimes> throws white-collar criminals in jail for running fraud schemes. However our government can do whatever the frick it likes.

A pyramid scheme starts by recruiting investors with an offer of guaranteed high returns (i.e., more than they invested). The earliest investors receive a return paid for by new recruits, but it isn’t a return on any real investment. From the day the scam starts, liabilities exceed assets. The only way it can continue is to get additional investors.

Like it or not, this describes Social Security. Current taxpayers will collect if workers continue making payments. Current taxes are being used to pay current recipients. Pyramid schemes collapse because they run out of investors. Social Security continues because the government forces people to participate. If people could opt out, the system would fail.

Part of what made Social Security work originally was that the retirement age was set higher than average life expectancy. Some people would pay into the system but never collect benefits. Since then, life expectancy has risen dramatically, but the retirement age has not.

If Social Security had to live by the rules applied to private retirement plans, it would be closed and the administrators would be in jail for fraud.