Did Ronald Reagan Lower the Top Tax Rate from 70 to 28 Percent and Introduce Income Tax on Social Security Benefits to Offset It? A popular tweet claimed that the former president lowered the top tax rate from 70 percent to 28 percent, balancing it with a novel income tax on Social Security Benefits.
‘You Do Know that Eliminating the Payroll Tax Defunds Social Security, Don’t You?’ The effects of a plan pushed by Trump depend on whether there is legislation passed to cover that cost.
Did the Trump Administration’s 2020 Budget Propose $25 Billion in Cuts to Social Security? A January 2020 set of two tweets (by Soledad O'Brien and Donald Trump) involved a claim that the Trump administration's 2020 budget planned to cut a huge chunk from Social Security.
Congress ‘Rejects’ Social Security Increase: Facebook Users Regurgitate Bogus Claim A long-running falsehood about social security payouts continues to be spread online.
Did Public Assistance Programs Exist in the United States Before Social Security? Claims that "our ancestors" who emigrated to the U.S. had no access to pensions or other types of aid when they arrived are ahistorical.
Turning Point USA’s ‘Truth About Social Security’ Meme On May 1 2019, the Facebook page for youth conservative outreach organization Turning Point USA shared a meme (archived here) purporting to detail “the truth” about several changes made to Social Security over the years: https://www.facebook.com/turningpointusa/photos/a.376802782368444/2202678636447507/?type=3&theater An appended status update read “Unbelievable… #BigGovSucks,” and the meme claimed: THE TRUTH ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY LIBERALS MOVED SOCIAL […]
Are FDR and LBJ Era ‘Say No to Socialism’ Buttons Authentic? On February 21 2019, economist and former United States Secretary of Labor Robert Reich published a tweet alongside what appeared to be an image of two political buttons from Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s and Lyndon B. Johnson’s campaigns: Although Reich made no specific reference to the “say ‘no’ to socialism” buttons shown, he wrote: For over […]
The ‘All Democrats Voted Against a Social Security Raise’ Meme Weeks before the 2018 United States’ midterm elections, propaganda from across the political spectrum flew thick and fast. Some of it contained grains of truth, while other stories were completely made up, such as a particularly lazy cut-and-paste meme that appeared in mid-October: The meme asks rhetorically, without citation or supporting evidence: Were any of you aware […]
Illinois Resident Patty Nye Blasts Senator Dick Durbin for Calling Seniors "Greediest Generation"-Fiction! False claims that Illinois woman Patty Nye blasted Sen. Dick Durbin for calling seniors the greediest generation ever are based on an earlier (and unproven) rumor involving a woman named Patty Myers and Sen. Alan Simpson.
Did 233 Representatives Vote to Steal Social Security's $2.9 Trillion Surplus?-Truth & Outdated! It's true that 233 members of Congress supported a bill that would have stripped Social Security's $2.9 trillion surplus, but the measure failed.
