My wife and I are senior citizens drawing Social Security. When Gov. Spencer Cox or President Donald Trump promise to exempt my Social Security from state or federal income taxes, it gets my attention; but not my support. My wife and I would benefit substantially from these tax cuts; yet I cannot in good conscience support these proposals.
How is my attitude possible? Because the elderly poor and near-poor — the folks for whom our human compassion would cause us to support these tax cuts — would not benefit from this change by a single nickel. Nada. Not at the state nor the federal level. Age (old age) is simply not an accurate predictor of financial need.
Let me explain. Senior citizens are not an economic monolith. Some elderly are financially strapped and deserve help. But many others are not financially precarious. Many of us are better off financially than we ever were when younger. Many of us no longer have a house payment. We are now covered by Medicare, so we are seldom faced with medical bankruptcy or crushing medical debt. We have lower transportation and clothing costs because we are retired.
To see if this premise holds water, I invented an elderly widow and introduced her to my Turbo-Tax program. My Jane Doe now collects the maximum Social Security for a 2025 retiree of 48,216 per year. Then I assume she draws another $600 per month from a modest annuity, which means she is better off than many of her peers at the senior center, who draw less Social Security and lack the annuity income. How much federal tax does my sweet Jane Doe owe? Zero. How much state tax? Zero. How much would she benefit by having her Social Security exempted from income taxes? Zero. Her annual income is about $55,000.
Those of us who would benefit from these tax exemptions are not the people who generate public sympathy. I do, however, have a suggestion that would truly help widow Doe and others at the senior center: Eliminate the sales tax on food. My widow friend would benefit enormously from this tax cut, as would all working families and the working poor of all ages. The sales tax on food is the most regressive — and most punitive — tax we pay. Eliminate the sales tax on food and actually accomplish what our altruism wishes to accomplish.
Exempting Social Security income from taxation would also expand our federal deficit and debt; not a small consideration.
One afterthought: We also now see a considerable push to exempt tip income from federal income tax. Applying the logic and adapted tax computation from above to the hardworking restaurant server leads us to the inescapable conclusion that this policy also fails to help the hardworking folks we want to help. It is ineffectual caring. The fact that both Biden and Trump proposed this idea does not redeem it. It betrays the fairness test by favoring tip income over all other income. It is vote pandering, just as with Widow Doe.
Kerry Soelberg, West Jordan
