[UPDATE] Did You Receive the Good News from Social Security Today? I did!!!

The letter you received may be a little different than mine. Let's compare notes

Please read the important update in the notes at the end.

Today, July 4, the Social Security Administration issued an email spam celebrating the passage of the Bigly Incarceration Bill. Did you get yours? I did. Here’s mine. Full text follows.

The headline was, “Social Security Applauds Passage of $45 Billion Concentration Camp Bill That YOU Won’t Pay For!”

Here’s the full text of the letter in case you can’t read it in the image:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is celebrating the passage of the One Big, Beautiful Bill, a landmark piece of legislation that delivers long-awaited relief from dark-skinned foreigners who threaten your peace of mind at the golf links. In theory, it also provides tax relief to the millions of older Americans who are below the poverty line, but in reality, those folks weren't paying Social Security taxes anyway.

Thanks to this bill, the number of poverty-stricken seniors will increase exponentially as rural hospitals close and millions of Americans lose their health care. It's a win for everyone!

Even though 64% of seniors currently pay no taxes on Social Security, and those who can't afford it already don't pay anything (according to our few remaining actuaries we have not yet fired), it gave our GREAT LEADER, Herr IcenFuhrer, an opportunity to knock off a few taco chicken feathers while beating his chest like a wild-eyed orange-colored bonobo stalking pre-teen girls down an escalator.

The bill gives no meaningful relief to those seniors who have spent a lifetime contributing to our nation's economy and still have nothing to show for it thanks to our grinding oligarchical capitalism that feeds the morbidly rich who feed off your hard work.

“Yes, I made $100 million during my career for major corporations like First Data,” said Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano. “And you low life slackers didn't. But until you have felt the joy of firing thousands of federal employees at the Social Security Administration like I have, you'll have to settle for these token tax benefits while we pass the vast majority of our tax cuts to the morbidly rich."

"Most exciting for us here at the SSA is that the new bill authorizes $45 billion in new concentration camps for people with skin darker than mine," added Bisignano. "That's more than the budget of every state prison combined!"

Social Security remains committed to providing timely, accurate information to the public and will continue working closely with federal partners to ensure beneficiaries understand how this legislation may affect them, but we may leave out some of the bloodier aspects, and, it should be noted, that beatings shall continue until morale improves.

Notes

Let me know if you received a copy of this in your inbox. Is the text the same as the one I got? Or am I “special?”

UPDATE: In case you missed it, this was satire.¹

However, the real letter sent to Social Security recipients claiming that they were getting a tax break was a ruse, according to the Washington Post JavaScript-Disabled News Service:

“There is no provision in the budget bill that directly ‘eliminates’ or even reduces taxes on Social Security benefits,” said Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

Before this week’s passage of the bill, about 64 percent of senior beneficiaries had exemptions and deductions that exceeded their taxable Social Security income, according to a White House Council of Economic Advisors analysis. That figure rises to about 88 percent under the new measure, the analysis said.

The bill “increases the standard deduction for seniors, which, as a result, reduces the number of seniors who will pay taxes on their Social Security benefits,” said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

In May, more than 74 million U.S. residents received Social Security, Supplemental Security Income or both, according to federal data. The new deduction for seniors gradually decreases for income levels above $75,000 until it disappears for individuals earning more than $175,000. People below a certain combined income — currently $25,000 for individuals and $32,000 for joint filers — don’t pay federal income taxes on their Social Security benefits; combined income includes one-half of annual Social Security benefits along with other income sources.

“It’s only higher-income beneficiaries who pay the tax in the first place,” said Kathleen Romig, a former Social Security Administration official who now works for the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “That’s who is being affected by this higher deduction, but it’s indirect.”

The median personal income for people 65 and over was about $32,000 in 2023, the most recent year for which figures are available, according to the Census Bureau.

The new deduction wouldn’t help single Social Security beneficiaries younger than age 65, policy experts said. That includes many disability beneficiaries, people who retired before 65, and those whose spouse or parent died, Romig said. “Lots of them are under age 65, so they are not affected by this at all,” she said.

The Social Security Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

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Thanks for reading!

1. The Washington Post JavaScript-Disabled News Service is a reference to how I read Washington Post news stories I notice that I need to actually read without paying Bezos a dime. I do this by disabling JavaScript, which kills the paywall.

Najmabadi, Shannon. 2025. “Social Security Letter on Taxes Sends Confusing Message, Some Experts Say.” The Washington Post. July 4, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/07/04/social-security-taxes

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