[quote=sdrealtor]I would happily opt out of SS as well as NAR if I could either. Also anytime I get a bill that has an optional lobbying contribution (there is one on my RE organization memberships) I ALWAYS OPT OUT! I own a timeshare which also has an optional contribution to a lobbying organization. Opt out of that also. I do what I can.
Have to laugh about the comment that public sector workers will have to prop up SS even though they get nothing from SS. Thats right, they get theirs from the approximately 30% most of us pay in combined federal, state and local taxes from those of us who pay an additional 7 to 15% toward SS already. Carry on.[/quote]
I won’t mix federal, state, and local pension plans and funding types, as they are all different. Suffice it to say, public pension contributions are a **tiny** fraction of federal expenditures. Public pension funds at the state level are also a very small portion of state expenditures (around 3-4%, IIRC). Municipal governments pay a higher portion toward pension contributions, as a percentage of expenditures, because almost all of their costs are payroll related — they are more heavily geared toward services than goods, and don’t pay for welfare/entitlement programs like the federal govt and states do.
FYI, public sector workers pay the very same local, state, and federal taxes that you do (but they don’t get to write everything off as a “business expense).” They don’t pay into SS because they don’t receive SS benefits. But if/when Social Security is no longer self-sustaining, taxes paid by public sector workers will likely be used to supplement/bail-out the SS program.
We keep rehashing this, but public sector workers pay more toward their retirement accounts than SS participants do. Obviously, they would be more inclined to have higher/better benefits. Again, public pensions are a form of deferred compensation, while SS is an entitlement/insurance program.
