Hudson letter: Social Security

I’m tired of my Medicare and Social Security being called an entitlement. I received my first work permit when I was 13 and took my first full-time job. I’ve contributed to both programs every year for the last 53 years and continue to do so. Thirty-five of those years are self-employed as a small business, during which my rate of paying for Social Security and Medicare was 13.5 percent. During this period I learned that the reason I paid a lot of taxes was because I made a lot of money. I was not overtaxed. Never came close to a 25 percent rate let alone 35. It’s all a sham. Trust me, if you make $1 million/year you can afford to pay 15 percent in taxes and still live a very nice lifestyle on $850,000. Meanwhile the deficit will continue to grow and the middle class will continue to fall behind. The GOP deficit hawks have given up in order to get re-elected by passing a bill that benefits 1 percent of the population. Trickle down does not work.

This story was originally published January 10, 2018 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Hudson letter: Social Security."