i hate when people bring it up. everybody that works pays payroll taxes which is around 25% when you count both sides.

It’s 15.3% counting both sides, and capped. And it’s the only “tax” that is paid back, at progressive rates, because it’s a retirement annuity not an income tax.

It’s an income tax wearing the trenchcoat of a retirement annuity- it’s not one for any practical purpose.

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Federal payroll taxes in the US are 15.3% (7.65% for each side).

Social security and Medicare are also payroll "taxes" in that they're not optional and are automatically deducted.

This is called insurance, not tax.

If the government mandates it under threat of violence, it’s called a tax.

It could also be classified as an insurance premium, but a government mandating it is the key characteristic of a tax.

But the fact that the government reduces the annuity amount by increasing retirement age and benefit purchasing power means it is not insurance either. It is wealth redistribution from the working to the non working.

Yeah, that's how insurance works: it is wealth distribution from those who have not become (yet) an insurance case to those who have not.

If you have a car, you need to pay car insurance. Is that also a tax?

The concept of insurance is independent of mandatory or not. That should be obvious, I wonder why it isn't to you. Maybe your ideology prohibits clear thinking and makes you vote Trump?