The lack of an inflation adjustment is often 😈 intentional, says Len Burman, a tax economist who is a professor at Syracuse University and co-founder of the Tax Policy Center.
Social Security: The income thresholds for including Social Security payments in taxable income
haven’t changed since they were enacted in the ‘80s and ‘90s. The income thresholds requiring filers to report 85% of payments on their tax return have been $44,000 for married couples and $34,000 for singles since 1994.
They would be about $77,000 for couples and $60,000 for singles in 2020.
In many cases, the IRS is punishing people who saved for retirement. That isn’t fair, and it isn’t smart.
So we should demand Congress index Social Security taxation to inflation. Based on the 1983 threshold numbers, that would ensure that only singles making over about $64,000 year, and couples making over $82,000 a year, would have to pay taxes on their Social Security income.