I finally get it now, I'm confusing the reduced "monthly SS income" with the taxing of SS income. The reduced SS rules exempted unearned income from reducing your SS payments and sunset upon reaching full retirement age so you can work as much as you want without fear it will reduce your SS check each month. But SS income is always subject to income tax which is based on all sources of income including SS that exceed the IRS threshold and can tax you on 50-85% of your total SS income for the year. So the higher your income, the more tax you pay on SS income. It's not just junk change either as it amounts to about 120.00 a month of my SS I do not realize in the end due to Federal taxation on my SS at a rate determined by my overall tax bracket. I can understand the 50% of the SS amount since the employer pays half of this into SS for you during your employment, but why 85% just because you earn more doesn't seem to justify the higher percentage to me. Time to move on!
