News flash.  There is no trust fund. There is no money sitting in a bank account in Washington.  It is nothing more than IOU's to be paid for by taxes that are collected from the paychecks of hardworking people.  Many of them are young poor people who are not making very much and they pay SS/Medicare tax to benefit old people (many of whom are wealthy).  That just seems immoral to me, especially since it was the old people's generation that created the pyramid scheme. I will be able to collect it in about 10 years.  But I am not sure I feel very good about the money coming from my children and grandchildren's paycheck.  They will probably need the money more than me.  So you can say these taxes are not "income" taxes all you want.  But that's exactly what they are in reality.  It is a "pay as you go" system and always has been.