if you haven't faxed your senators yet, give them a call. If you have
faxed, consider a followup telephone call. be sure to contact the
Washington office and ask to speak to the person who handles Social
Security issues. Below is an update on all of this. if you might be
uncomfortable with the organization behind this effort, consider
separating the people from the problem that we face and can do something
about. The solution will benefit us all.
kelly
URGENT UPDATE AND REMINDER
DATE: September 28, 1998
FROM: James Gashel
RE: AN EARNINGS LIMIT STATUS REPORT AND ACTION NEEDED!
This is a reminder that all Senators must hear from us in
massive numbers beginning right now and throughout this week and
perhaps next. The message is simple: "The earnings limits for
senior citizens and blind people who receive Social Security are
both set by law. Therefore, if the exemption is raised for
seniors, blind people should not be left behind again."
The increase in the seniors' exempt amount is included in an
end-of-session tax-cut bill which the Republican leadership is
hoping to pass and send to President Clinton before going home to
campaign for re-election. The President has said that he will veto
the bill in the form that passed the House on Saturday, September
26. Nonetheless, anything can happen as a matter of pre-election
politics. Therefore, the prudent thing for all of us to do is to
make sure that all Senators receive the message about the earnings
limit from the point of view of blind people. Senator McCain and
Senator Dodd, our sponsors of S.375, will help us, but members of
the National Federation of the Blind from everywhere in the country
will need to do the heavy lifting by contacting all Senators!
The preferred form of contact is by telephone and fax. The
number to use to reach any Senate office is (202) 224-3121, and ask
the operator for the office you want. Calls should be made to
Senator Lott, the majority leader, and Senator Daschle, the
minority leader, in addition to your own Senators. More than any
other Senators, in fact, the leadership will have control over what
goes into the final package if the Senate moves a bill of any kind
with the earnings limit changes included.
The two documents which follow will help you to explain the
current proposal on the earnings limit and its effect upon blind
people. Your own experience and that of others will help you
explain the need to increase our limit whenever the seniors' exempt
amount is changed. Win or lose, this is the chance we have been
working toward since March of 1996, when the linkage with the
seniors was broken. So, let's all roll up our sleeves and go to
work as we know best how to do it!!
Thanks.
BRIEF EXPLANATION OF SECTION 121 OF H.R. 4579
AND ITS IMPACT ON BLIND PEOPLE
H.R. 4579 is known as the "Taxpayer Relief Act of 1998."
Section 121 of that bill is the latest proposal being made to
increase the exemption on excess earnings for senior citizens who
receive Social Security benefits. The exempt amount for blind
people who have not attained age 65 is presently $12,600 while the
comparable amount for senior citizens is $14,500. In January,
1999, the seniors' exemption is already scheduled to become $15,500
under legislation enacted in 1996. Increases in the exempt amount
for blind people were excluded from that legislation. Therefore,
the exempt amount for blind people will only be adjusted by a
nominal inflation factor in January.
The 1996 law provides for increases to be made in the seniors'
exempt amount until it reaches $30,000 in the year 2002. At that
time the comparable exemption for the blind is expected to be
$14,400 unless the law is changed.
The proposal being made in section 121 of the tax relief bill
is to raise the seniors' exempt amount in slightly larger
increments than those enacted in 1996 and to enact further
increases for six years after 2002. Therefore, the exemption would
become $17,000 in 1999 as compared to $15,500 scheduled under
current law. The eventual out-year cap of $39,750 would be reached
effective in 2008 under the House provision.
The exempt earnings provision for blind people is found in
section 223 (d)(4) of the Social Security Act. According to a
"conforming amendment" which has been placed in section 121 of the
tax relief bill in the House, the changes being called for in the
exempt amount for seniors would not be applied to the blind.
Therefore, this injustice can be corrected by striking the
conforming amendment found in section (b)(2) of section 121. If
that happens, the historic position of blind people in having an
identical exempt amount to seniors would be restored.
STATEMENT ON CHANGES IN THE SOCIAL SECURITY EARNINGS LIMIT
September 28, 1998
ISSUE: Section 121 of the House-passed Taxpayer Relief bill calls
for a series of new changes in the earnings exemption allowed for
seniors who receive Social Security benefits. However, subsection
(b)(2) of this provision is designed to exclude blind people from
these changes. Therefore, the National Federation of the Blind is
requesting that subsection (b)(2) be stricken from provisions to
change the earnings limit when such provisions are considered in
the Senate. This may occur as part of the House-passed Tax Relief
bill or in some other end-of-session legislation.
From 1978 until March of 1996, the earnings exemptions for
senior citizens and blind people were linked by law, and the annual
exempt amounts allowed to encourage work were therefore identical.
However, when changes in seniors' earnings exemptions were enacted
in 1996, blind people were excluded. Many in Congress wanted to
prevent this from happening but could not do so procedurally in the
rush to pass the budget legislation in which the earnings limit
changes were included.
As a result, the earnings limit is being increased each year
for seniors in order to reach $30,000 in 2002. The amount
scheduled for 1999 under current law is $15,500. However, section
121 of the proposed "Taxpayer Relief Act of 1998" (H.R.4579) as
passed by the House calls for increasing the 1999 exempt amount for
seniors to $17,000 and for continuing the series of mandatory
adjustments through 2008 when the cap on earnings would become
$39,750. The exempt amount for blind people, which used to be
identical to the exemption allowed for seniors, is now only $12,600
and increases by nominal amounts annually.
NEED TO REMOVE WORK DISINCENTIVES: Mandating the adjustments in
the earnings limit for blind people in the manner being proposed
for age-65 retirees will provide more than 100,000 blind
beneficiaries with a powerful work incentive. Most blind people
could then not lose financially by working. Moreover, the mandated
earnings limit changes would be cost-beneficial, since among those
of working age most blind people are already beneficiaries. At
present, their earnings must not exceed a strict limit of $1,050
per month. When earnings exceed this exempt amount, the entire sum
paid to a primary beneficiary and dependents is abruptly withdrawn
after a trial work period.
When a blind person finds work, there is absolutely no
assurance that earnings will replace the amount of lost disability
benefits after taxes and work expenses are paid. Usually they do
not. Therefore, few beneficiaries can actually afford to attempt
substantial work. Those who do will often sacrifice income and
will certainly sacrifice the security they have from the automatic
receipt of a monthly check.
This group of beneficiaries--people of working age who are
blind--must not be forgotten and left behind further when the
earnings exemption is being raised for seniors. Just as with
hundreds of thousands of seniors, the positive response of blind
people to the higher earnings exemptions will bring additional
revenues into the Social Security trust funds. The chance to work,
earn, and pay taxes is a constructive and valid goal for senior
citizens and blind Americans alike. This is why blind people who
want to go to work should not be excluded from further changes
being made in the limit on earnings under the Social Security Act.
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