Social Security System: A Discussion on Winners and Losers

This discussion paper analyzes the winners and losers under the Social Security system, defining winners as low-wage workers and dual-earning couples, while identifying single individuals and long-term workers as potential losers. The paper explores the fairness of the system, suggesting that single parents and those with over 35 years of service should receive more benefits. It justifies the current system's fairness by highlighting its support for low-wage earners and couples, correlating benefits with tax contributions. The paper concludes by affirming the sustainability of the Social Security fund, emphasizing its role in providing retirees with a bonus based on their tax contributions, supporting their long-term financial planning. The document provides references to support its arguments.

Discussion Paper 2
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Table of Contents
Winners and Losers under Social Security..................................................................................................3
Views on fairness of Winners and Losers....................................................................................................4
Suggestion to address any inequities...........................................................................................................5
Reasons why Winners and Losers under the current system is fair.............................................................6
Sustainability of Social Security fund..........................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8
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Winners and Losers under Social Security
Winners under Social Security in terms of the estimated taxes paid in and estimated benefits
received are the low wage workers, also the couple where both of them earns are also the one
who receives benefits under Social Security. Couples, where one spouse earn different amount
are usually ahead of the couples where both of them earn similar amount of money because they
get extra benefits because of higher salary. The losers under Social Security in terms of the
estimated taxes paid in and estimated benefits received are the single people because they miss
the benefits which they have earned if they had a spouse.
They earn less so the benefits which are provided to them are also less than the people who earn
more and pay more taxes. The amount of benefit depends upon the tax which is paid by people.
Therefore people with higher income attain more benefits of the scheme. Also the people who
works for more than 35 years usually gets very less increase in the benefits because they have
already paid much taxes to the government. The people who are working for such long has less
increase in the benefits so their income is less and the benefits earned by them are also less than
other people (Barron’s, 2016).
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Views on fairness of Winners and Losers
My views on the fairness of winners and losers is that the person who are defined as losers under
this scheme should not actually be considered as losers because their income is far less than the
winners and also they are not able to enjoy the benefits of the scheme. So, the persons who are
defined as losers they must get some benefits under the scheme so that they can earn good
amount and can fulfill their daily needs without having any problem. Moreover, we can say that
to some extent it is fair also because the amount of tax you paid is equal to the amount of benefit
you receive. If a person pays less tax then it is obvious that the return will be less for him.
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Suggestion to address any inequities
According to me the benefits should also be given to single parents, and they should not miss the
benefits because of no spouse. The expenses of the child is also to be borne by the single parent
so the benefits of the scheme should also to given to him / her for betterment of their lifestyle.
The benefits must also be given to the people who have already spent more than 35 years of their
life in an organisation. They should not be neglected as they have already paid a lot amount of
tax in their life. These are the changes that I would like to suggest in the above benefits scheme.
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Reasons why Winners and Losers under the current system is fair
The reasons why we can believe that the winners and losers under the current system are fair are
that it entertains low wage workers as the winners and benefits are awarded to them under this
scheme so that they can earn and spend their livelihood. For e.g. if a person has less salary then
the benefits are given to him / her so that he can fulfil his daily needs. Also, the benefits are
given to the couple on equal basis when they both earn individually. For e.g. a couple who is
retiring in 2020 will be paying taxes for their entire work life and at the time of retirement they
will get around 75% of the amount which they have paid as tax in their work life. This is one of
the best things of the scheme as the money is given to them as their savings and it can be
beneficial for them to spend their life after retirement. One more reason for fairness of current
system is that the benefit is co related with the tax amount paid.
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Sustainability of Social Security fund
It can be seen that people do get back the amount which they have paid as tax while they were
working. This is one of the best features of the social security fund. It helps the people who are
retiring to get the amount of tax they have paid as a bonus to live comfortably after retirement.
The amount can help the people to live for long term and they can also plan their money where
to spend or where to invest (Moeller, 2015).
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References
 Barron’s. (2016). Social Security’s Winners, Losers. [Online]. Barron’s. Available at:
https://www.barrons.com/articles/social-securitys-winners-losers-1477887395 [Accessed
on: 6 March 2018]
 Moeller, P. (2015). Here’s What You Can Really Expect from Social Security. [Online].
Money. Available at: http://time.com/money/3954837/social-security-expect/ [Accessed
on: 6 March 2018]
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