SSA Email Misleads on Elimination of Tax on Social Security

The day after the federal “Big, Beautiful Bill” was passed by Congress, the Social Security Administration sent out this email to recipients:

Besides sounding somewhat political for a federal agency, it gave the false impression that the bill eliminated federal income tax on social security benefits:

The new law includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries, providing relief to individuals and couples.

Before the bill passed, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that changes to social security could not be made in this type of bill and the provision to not tax social security benefits was completely removed from it.

*MOUSE PRINT:

So how can the Social Security Administration claim the new law includes such a provision? They point to another measure in the law — a new $6,000 senior deduction — that would supposedly offset the income taxes that would otherwise be due on social security earnings for most people. The deduction is applied against other income too, however. And as their income rises, the deduction decreases to zero and is completely phased out after 2028.

Many major media outlets over the weekend reported on the misrepresentation in the email from the Social Security Administration. (See stories from NBC, Washington Post, the New York Times, and CNN.)

I know, some of you will say these are liberal media outlets and are not objective. So, MrConsumer uploaded the entire SSA email to Google Gemini and Microsoft CoPilot and asked these AI services to “evaluate the veracity and factual accuracy” of that email.

Here is what each said about the key claim that the new law contained a provision eliminating income tax on social security benefits:

*MOUSE PRINT:

“The new law includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries…”:

This statement is inaccurate in its phrasing. As noted above, the law does not eliminate the taxation of benefits, but rather provides a deduction that can lead to many beneficiaries paying no tax on their benefits due to reduced overall taxable income. —Google Gemini

Claim: “The bill eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries.”

– Misleading. The bill does not change the underlying tax code that governs how Social Security benefits are taxed.
– Instead, it adds a temporary deduction that applies to all income, not just Social Security. This means the tax is still technically in place, but many seniors will owe nothing due to the deduction.
– The deduction phases out for individuals earning over $75,000 and couples over $150,000, and it expires after 2028 unless renewed. — Microsoft CoPilot

What do you think? Did the SSA email cross the line? Offer your comments below, but please do not turn this into a pro or anti Tr–p rant, or a pro or anti political party diatribe.