re: Social Security/State Pension

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but municipal pensions are singled out because those employees typically paid very little to zero in social security taxes along the way. They have their pension instead of SS, at least that’s the logic.

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It depends. I worked well over my 40 quarters in the private sector but because I then went to work for the state long enough to get vested, I will now lose about half of whatever I would get from SS had I never worked for the state, upon my retirement (assuming retirement at 67). The WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) is nothing more than the federal government's attempt to strongarm entities into joining into the SS scheme.

To underscore this, while I will lose roughly half (48.6%) of my SS returns because of being vested in the state's pension system, if I had just gone to prison instead I would get the full amount upon release. In both instances I am no longer contributing to the program, but in one I am still contributing to the economy and paying taxes but in the other I am not paying taxes while being a drain on government resources.