Was Social Security (FICA) supposed to be temporary?

Question

I received an email that said the following. ..
Is it true? Comments?

Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program He promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary,
2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of
their annual incomes into the Program,
3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year,
4.) That the money the participants put into the independent "Trust Fund" rather than into the General operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and,
5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.

Answer 1

Don't believe everything you read on the Internet, or in emails.

Much of that info isn't correct. Initially though, the tax was much lower than it is today - and benefits weren't taxed as income until the mid-80's, as a measure to help keep the system solvent. There have been many changes over the years.

No president can promise what will be done by future congresses for any program.

Answer 2

I don't know if FDR actually promised any of that or not. It really does not matter. Congress changes laws all the time and government programs rarely go away. A recent example is the Telephone Tax refund. The tax being refunded was originally a 'temporary' tax to fund the Spanish-American war in 1898. The only one of your points that is arguably true today is the Trust Fund. Given that the Trust Fund is 'invested' entirely in Federal debt, is can be argued that there is no Trust Fund either.

Answer 3

Steven makes a good point about the "trust fund." Social Security was never "temporary." It is a high level Ponzi scheme and has to be permanent in order to work (new workers pay benefits to old workers). It can be "saved" if privatized or allowed to invest in things like other pension funds do. If it remains unchanged, we will have a crisis in about 20 years.

Answer 4

yes social security was indeed temporary what a mess it is now.