Every retiree in the country, I’d imagine, heard President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits, so much so that they might be sitting one day soon at breakfast wondering if they should rush to reduce their tax withholdings for 2025.
But don’t put that one on your to-do list just yet.
We’re talking about fairly significant hurdles for such a change to take place as early as next year if ever.
“Probably the earliest chance for the Social Security benefits provision to be considered by Congress would be if it is included in a major tax bill introduced in 2025 under budget reconciliation procedures,” said Mark Luscombe, principal analyst for Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting in Riverwoods, Illinois.
Congress can use the special reconciliation process in some cases to speed up high-priority tax, spending and debt limit legislation – and avoid a filibuster in the Senate.
A long list of soon-to-be-vanishing tax breaks will be a key concern for Congress next year because the many individual provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 – which was pushed when Trump served as the 45th president of the United States – expire at the end of 2025.
