Mr. Erik D. Olsen
President, AARP Board of Directors
601 E St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20049
Dear Mr. Olsen,
I taught public school in several states and always paid Social Security taxes. In 1987, I moved home to Kentucky with a total of 69 Social Security credits. (I’m sure you are aware that only 40 are required to draw a full benefit check.) I soon learned that Kentucky teachers did not pay Social Security taxes. I wanted to pay these taxes, but the only way I could was to take a second non-governmental job. For health reasons, that was not an option for me. It wouldn’t have made a difference anyhow, as I still would have had a benefit cut.
In 2002 I retired from public school teaching in Kentucky. When I did, I was informed that even though I had more than enough Social Security credits to qualify for a full benefit check, I would be subjected to the GPO/WEP reduction provisions. In other words, I would lose about sixty percent of what I had rightly earned — simply because I retired in Kentucky! At that time, my reduced Social Security benefit was $266.00. Now that I am on Medicare, it is $220.00. Some retirees have lost much more. The point is, no matter the sum, we worked and earned our benefit — which is being kept from us.
For health reasons, I had to take early retirement, so I do not have a large retirement income. I am by myself and have no family to help me. My retirement income is critical. I feel nauseated when I think if I had retired in Arizona, where I used to teach, I would have received a full benefit check!
The greater issue is the injustice that many older Americans have suffered as a result of the GPO/WEP. Our governments assured and required us to pay into Social Security system. We were assured that if we accumulated the required credits, we would receive our earned benefit. For a large number of Americans, this has not been the case, due to the GPO/WEP. Our trust was betrayed in the form of new rules — a grave injustice. In a democracy, all working Americans must be treated with equity, thus it is also discriminatory. The GPO/WEP has had a devastating effect on the retirement income of many people.
I urge AARP to adopt The Social Security Fairness Act as one of its priority issues. Yours is a powerful organization and it is older Americans that are suffering the income loss. I have no doubt that AARP would be greatly admired and appreciated if its lobbying efforts were to result in the passage of the Fairness Act. Thank you very much!
Sincerely,
LK, Kentucky
December 13, 2006 at 3:01 am
My story is similar. I am a Kentucky teacher who worked for nearly ten years in a social security job before going into teaching. I had no idea when I entered the teaching profession that I would be sacrificing my retirement security by the move into teaching. The ten years that I worked in tourism were years that I was not paying into the teacher retirement system, so I will not be able to retire with “full” teacher retirement, nor will I be able to draw the amount of social security that I am entitled to. I am nearing retirement and I am concerned about my future. I surely never expected to be treated so unfairly by my government.
Please work for repeal of the GPO/WEP
January 12, 2007 at 3:14 am
I also worked several years before my teaching career, plus, I have worked summers jobs that withdrew social security. To further complicate things, I was widowed at age 43 and my husband had paid into social security.
March 12, 2007 at 5:00 pm
I have worked for 54 years under social security, 20 at a Catholic school, then 19 at a public school. I paid ss taxes for those 20 years and always had a summer job.
When I started at the public school I only paid ss in the summer. How ever when I started to collect my ss I got only two third of the benifits, which amounted to $300.00 dollars less a month, $3600.00 a year. Also I only got 19 years retirement from the public school and only about two third of that retirement. Even though I worked 39 years in education. I still work in the summer to help with income.
Something should be done to help the teachers