Representative Abe Hamadeh has announced that he is cosponsoring the Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act. This bill is aimed at ending the practice of taxing this government retirement plan twice, when wages are received and again when benefits are received during retirement.
This is part of a trend. As part of their campaign, most Republican candidates promised tax relief if elected. Now that they have been elected, they are delivering on those promises at all levels of government. For example, in Arizona we have several Republican bills aimed at doing just that. One of the most significant is SB1371 which eliminates income taxes on senior citizens’ individual retirement distributions.
However, the bill cosponsored by Rep. Hamadeh is quite a bit more significant because it entails a substantial tax relief on most middle-class retirees nationwide, not just in Arizona, and is not limited to individual retirement plan recipients.
The idea of limiting or eliminating that second, burdensome tax on social security benefits has been around for a while. In fact, every year there is at least one bill introduced to do just that. This year we have a much greater chance of making this bill a reality because Republicans have better control of congress, and we have a sympathetic president. In fact, there is a similar bill making its way through the senate, introduced by senators Tommy Tuberville and Tim Sheehy.
“It is my honor – one of the highest honors – to support a bill first introduced by Congressman Ron Paul. The wisdom of the fiscal battles he waged over the years is now becoming evident to everyone thanks to President Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). My hope is that as DOGE dives deeper into our bloated and broken bureaucracies, we will find many opportunities to reduce taxes on hard-working Americans,” stated Congressman Hamadeh.
It should also be noted that the United States got by perfectly well prior to 1984 without taxing social security benefits.
“’Prior to 1984, Social Security benefits were exempt from the federal income tax. Congress then enacted legislation to tax a portion of those benefits, with the share gradually increasing as a person’s income rose above a specified income threshold,’ noted a Congressional Research Service report. That is simply unfair, and unnecessary,” stated Congressman Hamadeh.