Okay, so you're talking about something where you have the bare minimum of knowledge. That's cool, this is the internet after all. Not being an American, I haven't spent a lot of time reading their tax laws or forms. I dont know if that applies to you. But I try to be more informed if I'm going to argue on the internet, and it appears SS is a marginal tax just like many others. In this case, it's a flat tax up to $184.5k this year, and 0 for income above that amount. So your initial point was also wrong.