New
Service for TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com
readers...roll mouse over, click on
highlighted links in stories to review items
from Amazon
Now, keep up to date
with daily feeds of newly posted stories
about America's Seniors...click on the box
to the left
Retirees to
Congress: Don't forget us in Economic
Stimulus Package…Emergency COLA Increase and
Tax Moratorium needed to help Seniors
through economic downturn
RESTON, Va., Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- On behalf of its almost 400,000 senior
citizen supporters nationwide, RetireSafe
today urged Congress to think about
America's retired population in any economic
stimulus package it
considers.
"The economic slowdown has
hit seniors particularly hard this year.
They are often living on fixed income and
have no opportunities to increase their
income," said RetireSafe President Michelle
Plasari.
"The average senior living
on Social Security received a raise of about
$288 this year - hardly enough to keep up
with their rising cost of living. Congress
gave itself a raise of over $4,000 this
year," continued Plasari.
Millions of retirees do
not earn enough income to file federal tax
returns and receive refunds, and most are
not considered poor enough to qualify for
low-income programs being considered as part
of the economic
stimulus package.
"One surefire way to
include seniors in the stimulus package is
to adopt an emergency cost of living
adjustment (COLA) increase for Social
Security. Today's COLA is calculated based
on the habits of young, urban
professionals. It doesn't
take into account the rising health care,
insurance, and energy costs America's
seniors are currently struggling with," said
Plasari.
The Social Security COLA
was adopted to help seniors keep up with
inflation. Since 1983 the Bureau of Labor
Statistics has maintain an experimental
consumer price index for the elderly (CPI-E)
that tracks seniors expenses more closely
than the formula currently used to calculate
the COLAs. Some groups have shown that since
2000 seniors have lost as much as 40% of
their buying power as a result of not
adopting the CPI-E as the COLA standard.
"Senior Americans are
responsible for 14% of consumer spending in
this country today. They are a vital and
growing segment of our economy and shouldn't
be forgotten in a plan for economic
recovery. An emergency COLA
increase would put needed
spending money in their pockets," said
Plasari.
In addition to adopting an
emergency COLA increase for retirees,
Congress should also consider a moratorium
on the taxes seniors pay on dividends,
capital gains and interest income. Millions
of retirees depend on this type of income to
supplement their Social Security checks.
"While the 2003 tax cuts lowered the taxes
on dividends and capital gains, those tax
cuts are set to expire in 2011. Ultimately
making those tax cuts permanent would go a
long way toward making retirement more
secure
for tens of millions of
older Americans," concluded Plasari.
...
...
...