Thank you for your response to my questions. So far you are the only one to respond. I am, however, extremely disturbed that you feel that allowing recognized IRS deductions to be used in determining the taxable amount of SS should be categorized as "an increase in benefits". It would not be an increase in benefits so much as a correction of a TERRIBLE inequity. The way the calculations are now structured, one could have total gross income that would place him in the bracket where 85% is taxable but have such large medical expenses that he actually ends up at or near the poverty level. Medical expenses of this magnitude are not uncommon and this extreme inequity MUST be addressed.
