Do Members of Congress Pay Social Security Taxes?Lawmakers do pay 8 percent of their salaries into their pension
system, although this only compensates for about 1/5 of the typical
lifetime benefit. We cover the rest as taxpayers.
Member of Congress began to pay into Social Security in 1983, as
part of a government-wide pension overhaul.
In addition, Members of Congress DO NOT draw the “same pension”
as their pay in the last year of office as suggested in a rumor
circulating on the Internet; only federal judges do that under the
term “retirement pay.” Still, the formula is quite
generous, and, with 20-25 years, a Member of Congress could retire
with up to 80 percent of his or her salary replaced. Of course,
the only cap on how fast their benefits rise is the rate of increase
in CPI. For this reason, Congressional pensions can and frequently
do exceed a Member’s final salary, but only after a few years
in retirement, when COLAS begin to kick in.
In the final analysis, Congressional pension benefits are 2-3 times
more generous than what a similarly-salaried executive could expect
to receive upon retiring from the private sector. That ought
to be enough to concern any taxpayer.
Additional information concerning pay and perks is available in
NTUF
Policy Paper 131.
Click Here for Additional FAQs on Congressional Pay, Pensions, and Perks
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