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It has been interesting to see the comments being made by citizens regarding the Social Security Fairness Act. Some people certainly seem jealous of anyone with more than one retirement income, even though most of those people earned that retirement via years of dedicated work. Many hard-working taxpayers have multiple retirement incomes, but only government employees (who probably could have had a higher income in the private sector, had they not chosen a life of service to others) are singled out by this unfair restriction.
What everyone seems to miss is the word “fairness.” First, the money that it will “cost” to fix this is the exact amount that the federal government has confiscated from the workers who are denied this benefit. That’s bad, but worse is the fact that almost exactly half of the U.S. states adhere to this unfair policy (including Maine), while workers in the other 24 states receive their well-earned Social Security payment.
Thankfully, members of Maine’s congressional delegation understand this problem for Maine workers, and hopefully, they can educate enough senators and representatives to finally fix this inequity.
Dan Brooks
Volunteer fire chief
Town of Winthrop
Chair
Maine Fire Protection Services Commission
Winthrop