Nearly Half of Self-Employed Americans Fear Social Security Won’t Be Around in Retirement
Written by
Vance Cariaga
Edited by
Amber Barkley
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has grabbed a lot of headlines this year as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a non-official organization created by President Donald Trump to slash the federal government. Musk said he will soon “step back” from DOGE, but his work there has already raised numerous red flags — including its potential impact on Social Security.
Many Americans worry that DOGE’s work to cut spending within Social Security could lead to benefit cuts or worse. In fact, nearly half (45%) of self-employed Americans fear Social Security won’t even exist when they retire, according to a new survey from public interest law firm Atticus.
Next, find out what promises Musk has made about Social Security.
How Social Security Payroll Taxes Work
The survey of 1,006 self-employed Americans, conducted in February 2025 and released in late April, aimed to gauge how these workers view Social Security. Many of the questions centered on tax issues.
The self-employed must pay a 15.3% rate to cover Social Security and Medicare taxes. That’s double what W-2 employees pay, mainly because self-employed workers must pay both the employee and employer portions of these taxes.
Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Atticus’ survey respondents said Social Security taxation is “unfair” compared with W-2 employees. Seven in 10 believe the government should provide “special tax breaks” to offset their Social Security burden, while 42% would prefer to opt out of Social Security and invest privately.
Unease Over Social Security’s Future
The survey also uncovered growing unease over Social Security’s future, especially given recent events.
Already this year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced plans to cut more than 7,000 jobs and close at least 10 field offices. Musk himself has suggested that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” rife with waste and fraud and might be a good candidate for a massive overhaul.
Cuts to Social Security’s spending could not have come at a worse time for the embattled agency. One of the biggest risks right now has to do with the looming depletion of Social Security’s Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund.
The fund is expected to run out of money in about a decade, leaving Social Security solely dependent on payroll taxes for funding. Those taxes currently fund about 77% of benefits.
As recently as two years ago, the SSA was dubbed an “agency in crisis” by leaders of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a labor union that represents 750,000 federal and D.C. government workers. They cited a “decade of Congressional underfunding” and ongoing staff shortages that will only grow worse with the DOGE-led payroll cuts.
“SSA is at its lowest staffing levels in 50 years while taking care of more Americans than ever,” AFGE spokesman Rich Couture said in a recent statement shared with NPR. “We need to retain our frontline workers who directly serve the public, as well as those workers who provide critical support for the frontlines. Any cuts will ultimately hurt the public and undermine delivery of Social Security benefit.”
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Sources
- Atticus, “Nearly Half of Self-Employed Americans Fear Social Security Won’t Be There for Their Retirement.”
- NPR, “The Social Security Administration says it plans to cut some 7,000 jobs.”
