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Introduction to the U.S. Social Security system

Social Security is a major social program that provides benefits to multiple groups of people within the United States. These benefits include payments for pensions, disability, and unemployment compensation just to name a few. The majority of social security beneficiaries are retired workers and the remaining are pension recipients, disabled workers, dependent spouses, and children of retired or deceased workers respectively (Hyman, 2011). Social Security is financed through a taxpayer payroll tax, in addition to an employer’s portion that is matched and paid directly to the government on a quarterly basis. The employer portion of Social Security is usually not transparent to employees, but is a requirement for companies by law. In addition, self-employed individuals are also required by law to pay their own portions of OASDI and Medicare. Overall, the eligibility requirements for Social Security benefits are based on paying a tax through a place of employment and can be collected once workers have reached their assigned retirement age or become disabled. The employee and employer contribution rate is 6.2% (7.65% include FICA), up to the maximum wage base of $113,700.
Introduction of the Canadian Social Security system
The Canadian Social Security system is broken down into three levels: Old Age Security (OAS), The Canada Pension Plan (CPP), and the private pension/savings. The first level (OAS) provides citizens that meet certain residence requirements with a modest monthly pension once they reach the retirement age of 65 (Totrov, 2014). Under the Canadian Social Security system, all citizens that meet the retirement age automatically receive retirement benefit. OAS is fina...

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...o address finance gaps to ensure that the program is available for future generations.

Works Cited

Hyman, D. N. (2011). Public finance: A contemporary application of theory to policy (10th ed.). Mason, OH: Southwestern

Totrov, Serguei. (2014) Canada's Retirement Income System. Retrieved January 27, 2014, from www.totrov.com/english/pension_system.htm

CEN. (2014) Website Title. Retrieved January 27, 2014, from www.canadianexpatnetwork.com/public/1564.cfm

MSN Money. (2014) Why retiring in Canada can be better - - MSN Money. Retrieved January 27, 2014, from money.msn.com/retirement-investment/why-retiring-in-canada-can-be-better-arthur-pinkasovitch?page=2

Brandon, Emily. (2014) 5 Ways to Fix Social Security - Planning to Retire (usnews.com. Retrieved January 27, 2014, from money.usnews.com/money/blogs/planning-to-retire/2013/02/13/5-ways-to-fix-social-security

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