Certain way to promote a revolution.
Public employees earn as much or more than private industry.
They can opt out of Social Security and most if not all can retire early at 80% of their final salary.
What reasoning, other than "All animals are equal; but some animals are more equal than others" can be the justification for this special privilege?
In essence, this gives them twice the usual retirement that non-public employees enjoy.
Wrong on several counts. All new personnel joining the federal government after 1983 must pay into SS. It is not an option. For those joining prior to that, they had the option to convert to the new system including paying SS taxes in addition to paying into the civil service system.
The amount of retirement is based on number of years service, the average high three years of salary and age. Without going into all of the rules and regulations, someone would have to have 40 years of service to get an 80% pension, which is fully taxable. Minimum retirement age is generally 55 with a minimum of 20 years service. Early retirement before 55 with 20 years service will result in a reduction penalty.
It depends on one's perspective, but those Civil Service employees who retired have their entire pension subject to state taxes in Virginia. Non-government personnel collect their entire SS pension without paying any taxes. Is that fair?