Exclude Social Security benefits from taxation

There is an injustice to our senior citizens who worked hard and diligent for 50 years. That injustice is the taxing of our Social Security benefits. As a prime example, I would like to use amounts from our jointly filed individual income tax return of 2009.

This return reflects $74,400 of adjusted gross income, which includes $23,680 of taxable Social Security benefits and represents 85 percent of our total Social Security benefits. The other income includes $29,645 of pension and IRAs. The balance of $21,075 is wages earned working part time just to keep ourselves within the means of daily living.

The tax liability reported on this return was $3,420 and if we weren't required to include our Social Security benefits, the tax would have been $295 - a significant difference.

However, you and others may say “why work part time” in order to reduce the amount of Social Security that is to be taxed. The members of Congress do not understand the reality of living in today's world. Our president has stated that he wants to reduce the tax burden on middle class people who earn less than $200,000 a year. This is a strange way of approaching this goal, but politicians aren't really concerned with the middle class working class of this great nation.

What should be done is to increase the base amount that allows for Social Security to be excluded from taxation. This base amount has not been adjusted since it was originally voted into the Internal Revenue Code in 1986.

Gregory Van Egdon

Kalona