To the editor: If the U.S. Senate votes to pass the Social Security Fairness Act, it will be righting an egregious wrong inflicted on millions of hard-working people for way too long. The Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset have prevented them from receiving their rightful benefits for decades.
People who have worked in public sector jobs that don’t pay into Social Security have, in most cases, also worked for several years in private sector jobs that did pay into Social Security. Because they receive a public pension, they get next to nothing for those Social Security payments. In many cases, because of these split career choices, their public pensions are small, and without Social Security they are forced to live in poverty.
On top of that injustice, the Government Pension Offset severely reduces or eliminates spousal and survivor benefits. A spouse with absolutely no employment record can get benefits, but because someone has chosen to work for the public good, they are denied this basic lifeline.
While this travesty has festered, many of its victims have died waiting for relief. We all know that the Social Security system faces reform within the next decade, but squeezing the last ill-gotten dime from these long suffering workers is not only wrong, it’s cruel!
Mark McCloud, Newhall
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To the editor: The changes that Biden and Trump want to make to Social Security will hurt women more than men. For years I worked alongside men doing the same job but earning significantly less pay. Obviously that meant I paid less into Social Security, so now I get far less.
If the Senate passes the Social Security Fairness Act and Biden signs it, by increasing benefits there will be less money in the fund. If Trump doesn’t allow tips to be taxed and permits more people to be sub-contractors instead of employees, less money will go into the fund. It seems to me that the only reason Republicans are against increasing the maximum wages subject to Social Security tax is because to do so would also increase the amount corporations have to pay.
What the politicians are doing with these so-called bipartisan actions is no different than what insurance companies do after you pay for coverage: They reduce it or take it away.
Shirley Conley, Gardena
