As President Donald Trump\u2019s signature tax-and-spending legislation made its way through Congress, a PolitiFact reader wrote to ask about the bill\u2019s impact on Social Security\u2019s long-term ability to pay out benefits.<\/p>\n
The reader had seen our recent fact-check of Trump\u2019s statement that the bill will deliver the promise of “no tax on Social Security.” We rated that statement Mostly False<\/a>: The bill will provide a tax break for Americans ages 65 and over, but it won\u2019t eliminate the Social Security tax entirely. Some 24 million Social Security beneficiaries will still be taxed on some of their checks from the program, according to Congress\u2019 bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation\u2019s staff director. Many of those are younger than 65 and thus ineligible for the new tax deduction.<\/p>\n The PolitiFact reader asked, “As I understand your fact checking, the taxes paid on Social Security go to the Social Security trust fund. Does this make the date when benefits will be cut for all come sooner?”<\/p>\n The answer is yes \u2014 and by experts\u2019 analyses, anyone born after 1967 could see the effect.<\/p>\n Taxation of Social Security benefits began with 1983<\/a> legislation<\/a> that was designed to help shore up Social Security\u2019s finances. Certain tax revenues, including the taxation of Social Security benefits, are deposited directly<\/a> into the Social Security trust fund, to pay for current beneficiaries.\u00a0<\/p>\n \nSign up for PolitiFact texts<\/p>\n Once the trust fund runs out of money, it will trigger automatic, across-the-board cuts.<\/p>\n