WASHINGTON — The Social Security Administration has sent a misleading email to beneficiaries stating that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cuts and spending law eliminates taxes on Social Security benefits for most recipients.
“The bill ensures that nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits, providing meaningful and immediate relief to seniors who have spent a lifetime contributing to our nation’s economy,” said the email, which multiple beneficiaries shared with NBC News.
“The new law includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries, providing relief to individuals and couples,” it said.
An identical note was posted to the SSA’s website on Thursday, the same day multiple beneficiaries told NBC News they received the email.
The emails came before Trump prepared to sign his massive tax cuts and spending package, what he’s called the “big, beautiful bill,” into law in a July Fourth ceremony at the White House.
The Trump domestic policy package, which Congress sent to his desk on Thursday, extends the president’s expiring tax cuts he enacted in 2017, and also creates a temporary tax deduction for earnings from tips and overtime.
But it does not eliminate federal taxes on Social Security. Budget reconciliation, the arcane process Senate Republicans used to pass the bill while avoiding a Democratic filibuster, does not allow changes to be made to Social Security.
The Trump package does, however, include a temporary tax deduction of up to $6,000 for seniors ages 65 and older, and $12,000 for married seniors. Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers argued last month that nearly 9 in 10 seniors would not pay any federal taxes on their Social Security benefits because the new deduction would eliminate their tax burden.
“Under the One Big Beautiful Bill, 51.4 million seniors — 88% of all seniors receiving Social Security income — will pay no tax on their Social Security,” the council wrote.
Trump, who promised during the 2024 campaign that he would kill taxes on Social Security, has been repeating the false claim the legislation does just that. He made the claim at a rally in Iowa on Thursday night and at Friday’s bill-signing ceremony.
“After this kicks in, our country is going to be a rocket ship economically,” Trump said at the White House ceremony, “and we've delivered no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors.”
Representatives for both the White House and the SSA did not respond to requests for comment. Trump’s top political appointee at the SSA, Commissioner Frank Bisignano, said in the email that the new tax cuts represent a “historic step forward for America’s seniors.”
“For nearly 90 years, Social Security has been a cornerstone of economic security for older Americans. By significantly reducing the tax burden on benefits, this legislation reaffirms President Trump’s promise to protect Social Security and helps ensure that seniors can better enjoy the retirement they’ve earned,” Bisignano wrote in the email.
Former SSA officials and congressional Democrats said they were appalled by what they viewed as a highly political email being sent to Americans by a federal agency.
“This email went to every Social Security subscriber and every word of it is a lie. Social Security benefits are still taxed. This big, ugly bill doesn’t change that,” New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote on X. “It’s disturbing to see Trump hijack a public institution to push blatant misinformation.”
Jeff Nesbit, a former top Social Security Administration official during the Biden administration, said the political emails were highly unusual, slamming them as “unbelievable” and “unconscionable.”
“I was deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Appointed by President Biden. The agency has never issued such a blatant political statement,” Nesbit, who also served in the George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, posted on X. “The fact that Trump and his minion running SSA has done this is unconscionable.”
More than 70 million retirees, survivors and people with disabilities receive Social Security benefits, according to the SSA.
