The Government Pension Offset is an arcane provision of Social Security that unfairly punishes those who work for the government and earn a pension.
A client of mine is a teacher and her husband died a few years ago. He paid into Social Security his whole life, however his wife, my client, will never see a dime of it. The culprit: she will receive a pension from CalSTRS (California State Teachers Retirement System)....of which she contributed to and earned on her own account. My client is punished for working and will have a harder time in retirement because she will not receive income that her husband worked very hard for and for which he gave up 12.4% of his income during his lifetime.
Had my client's husband had a large life insurance policy that allowed my client to no longer work (after her husbands death) she COULD collect social security survivor benefits, but because she works for a government institution...nothing. Does this make any sense?
In my opinion this is flat out thievery. There is no other way to describe it.
I understand the Windfall Elimination Provision, however the Government Pension Offset is just ridiculous and should be repealed retroactively. We need to restore some sense of honor to our citizens who work hard and pay into a system that they are promised to get something out of.
Thanks for listening - call or e-mail your congressman and senator about this issue.
Scott Dauenhauer
