About Trump’s campaign promise to stop taxing social security checks . . .

Photo above - gazillionaire Warren Buffet jams on his ukelele, while taking a break from playing with his toy train set. A Trump proposal would exempt him from social security taxes.

During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump famously promised to stop taxing the social security benefits of retirees (see link below).

This may have been a counterpoint to Biden’s endless promises to zero out all student loans, for every borrower, everywhere. Pitting the young against the young. How could this happen in America? Don’t we already have enough fun with religious, racial, and political tribalism?

At first blush, I was inclined to agree with Trump's plan to stop taxing my mother’s social security checks. The tax law is complicated, but long story short: once you reach a certain income level (social security plus a pension (and or still working in old age) 85% of your monthly check gets hit with income tax. Yeah . . . wow. Mom ALREADY paid income taxes on her social security payroll contributions over the past 40 years. This is called double taxation. And we still run huge government deficits, despite double taxation? Yowza!

The poster child for why I don’t want to exempt all retirees from social security tax is Warren Buffet (94). HE definitively should pay income taxes on every penny of his monthly check. But I honestly don’t know if grandpa ukelele even gets a social security check. So let me serve up Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg, and 50 people named Walton (Walmart heirs) if Buffet doesn’t work for you.

The debate shouldn’t be about giving EVERYONE a free ride. But where could someone set the taxable income cutoff, to harvest the most senior citizen votes on election day? With inflation, that can be a difficult conversation to have.

Biden’s “no more student loans” fiasco broke an axle in a similar pothole. Why should neurosurgeons, wall street traders, and congresspersons get 100% loan forgiveness? Well, in the case of elected officials, it's possible to guess, no?

I’m also not in favor of exempting “tip income” from personal income tax. I was at the gym this morning. A personal trainer had a 55 minute session with a mellowed out senior citizen. At the end of the hour the trainer hit Mr. Rogers up for a $20 tip (but subtly). Since Tony the Trainer doesn’t work full time and is probably getting most of his income from tips on various gigs, this will invite more tip income fraud. And people who are gig workers probably aren’t voting for Trump no matter what. Let Kamala or Newsom or Booker or AOC pick up this banner in 2028, if they want to.

Heads up to 30-somethings: if you're still working as waitstaff or in gig jobs, living at home, and subsisting on tip income . . your real concern should be where to find a real job, at a good wage. Not how much your tips will be taxed until you start collecting social security checks and have to eat dog food.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Update on Trump's plan to change Social Security taxes