Do I have a right to Social Security?
January 13, 1999
Many people believe that Social Security is an earned right-that
is, they believe they are entitled to receive Social Security benefits because
they have paid Social Security taxes. However, in Flemming v. Nestor (1960),
the Supreme Court ruled that workers have no legal right to Social Security:
Congress can cut or eliminate Social Security benefits at any time regardless
of a worker's contributions.
Flemming v. Nestor
Ephram Nestor was a Bulgarian immigrant who came to the United
States in 1918. He paid Social Security taxes from 1936 until he retired in
1955. In 1956 Nestor was deported for being a member of the Communist Party
in the 1930s. His Social Security checks were stopped in accordance with a 1954
law that stated that deportees would lose their Social Security benefits. Nestor
sued the federal government, claiming that he had a right to collect Social
Security benefits because he had paid his Social Security taxes.
The Supreme Court disagreed, saying, "To engraft upon the Social
Security system a concept of accrued property rights would deprive it of the
flexibility and boldness in adjustment to ever changing conditions which it
demands."
The Court's decision was not surprising. In an earlier case,
Helvering v. Davis (1937), the Court had ruled that Social Security was not
an insurance program: "The proceeds of both the employee and employer taxes
are to be paid into the Treasury like any other internal revenue generally,
and are not earmarked in any way."
Those decisions mean that Congress can reduce Social Security
benefits or raise the tax rate at any time. Indeed Congress has raised the FICA
tax five times in the past 20 years. And politicians continue to debate ways
to cut benefits. Some propose direct cuts, such as reducing the amount of monthly
benefit checks. Others propose indirect cuts, such as raising the retirement
age, which would force workers to work longer before they could collect retirement
checks.
Workers Deserve to Own Their Savings
With fully private personal retirement accounts, workers would
have a property right in their retirement savings. They would own their accounts
and the money in them, the same way people own the money in their savings accounts.
That property right would protect workers' savings from politicians looking
to pinch pennies in a debt-riddled system. Workers deserve the security of owning
their retirement savings.
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