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by alistairSH 126 days ago
That's not all that different than US Social Security. SS has a much lower required contribution/tax rate, but the overall scheme seems similar (lower than market returns, etc) and naming (despite SS actually being called a tax, many residents think of it as a required personal retirement savings account).
1 comments
everforward 126 days ago
SS is different mostly in that you’re not really loaning money to the government. The money coming in today mostly goes right back out as payments.

There’s also an upper limit on SS taxable income. I forget what it is, but basically the entirety of the top quintile isn’t paying SS on their entire income. I want to say it’s like 90k, but it’s been a while since I looked.

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raw_anon_1111 126 days ago
The top social security taxable income hasn’t been as low as $90K since around 2005. It’s currently $184500. 93% of income earners earn less than that

https://dqydj.com/income-percentile-calculator/

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eru 126 days ago
> SS is different mostly in that you’re not really loaning money to the government. The money coming in today mostly goes right back out as payments.

That's only a difference in accounting, not in reality.

They could 'fully find' SS tomorrow, by just creating a bunch of T-bills for it.

> There’s also an upper limit on SS taxable income. I forget what it is, but basically the entirety of the top quintile isn’t paying SS on their entire income. I want to say it’s like 90k, but it’s been a while since I looked.

How's that different from CPF? See https://www.cpf.gov.sg/employer/infohub/news/cpf-related-ann...

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frankchn 126 days ago
There is an upper limit on CPF contributions as well, currently set at S$8,000/month for ordinary wages and S$102,000/year total (ordinary wages + sales/performance bonuses, etc...).

In comparison, the US social security income limits this year is US$184,500/year.

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alistairSH 126 days ago
SS is forced to invest unspent funds in T-bonds... That's sort of a loan to Uncle Sam.

And yeah, income over $185k isn't taxed by SS (silly law - fixing that would mostly fix the fund depletion that's likely to happen right about the time I retire).

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