Social Security Exit?

 

1. For this dumb Canuck - is your Social Security something you pay with a deduction off every paycheque? Or is it just a gummint thing? I’m not all that familiar with your system. I have enough troubles trying to figure out our own.

   We all have mandatory CPP (Canada Pension Plan) and EI (Employment Insurance -??-) deducted from each cheque per payday.

   -Dan D,
   Canuckistan

   Posted by Dan D       05/16/2005  at  06:41 AM  



2. Dan, it is an automatic deduction from every paycheck. The total is 12.6%, with half coming directly out of the employee’s pay and the other half being paid by the employer. It is a mandatory deduction, just like our income taxes and medicaid taxes and state income taxes, etc.

   I’m lucky to see half of my original salary after everyone in government gets through taking their cut .. and I have no choice in the matter. It is all done before I ever see my paycheck.

   Posted by The Skipper       05/16/2005  at  08:24 AM  



3. Dan:  The article points out the tax started at 2% and has grown to 12.4% and Self Employed people pay 100% of the tax.  Every single parent mother pays the tax if she gets a paycheck, no one escapes.

   In Chile the tax had also grown to about 13% before they reformed their system with Personal Savings Accounts (PSA), the day before Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980.  There they let everyone have the option to get out of Social Security and put 10% of income into the PSA.  Dr J. Pinera says they gave old people, like 56 years old, CREDIT for everything they paid in thus far, an exact number, and all future taxes could go to the PSA, so everyone was happy.  It was so popular 95% of Chilonians have now bailed off the old government ponzi scheme of Social Security.

   Pinera says, “Otto Bismark was wrong.”

   Pinera says older workers need to know the exact amount that is credited to the old system, and that number provided to them on a statement, then they can decide to opt out with only future taxes in question.  That way everyone can decide when to retire that’s best for them personally. 

   He was speaking to an Iowa croud so he tried to make it simple.  I’m going to post Dr. Pinera’s letter to President Bush because it pretty much says it all.

   The Democrats are coming out with a plan this week:  SHOWDOWN

   Posted by Z Woof       05/16/2005  at  09:09 AM  



4. What gets me is how the MSM pontificates about how risky the stock market is.  BUT you be sure that they take part in 401K’s offered by their employers.  Either that, or they have stocks and bonds in their personal IRA’s.  Yet they say imply that average Americans are too stupid or lazy to take charge of their own money.  What hypocrites!

   Posted by lisar915       05/16/2005  at  01:24 PM  



5. Thanks Skipper and Z Woof.

   It would seem that you’re not much different (or better off) in that regard than we are. We end up about the same. Take home pay ends up being a little more than half our earnings.

   But then we have the additional Federal GST (Goods and Services Tax) of 7% on ALL items and/or services as the name implies. Plus the PST (Provincial Sales Tax) of another 7% that is applied to every purchase we make. With very few exceptions - and I believe baby and childrens clothing (6 and under) are the only exceptions I can come up with at the moment.

   That is a whopping addition of 14% on our purchases. Clothes, food, fuel, all our utility bills, and whatever else you do.

   One of my favourite expressions is “It’s a hard life, and then you die.” When that day comes, my survivors will have to pay GST on the disposal of my remains.

   What a life.

   -Dan D,
   Canuckistan

   Posted by Dan D       05/16/2005  at  02:25 PM  

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