Hi Larry,
I am 71 and do part time work to stay busy. Maybe 8 to 10 hours a week. Why do you still have to pay into Social security and Medicare ? Seems after paying into for 50 years one could stop.
Thanks
Ted

Hi Ted. The only answer I can give you is that it's part of the Social Security Act that was passed into law by Congress. Regardless of a person's age, their Social Security covered earnings can potentially increase their Social Security retirement benefit rate if they earn more than they did in one of their previous highest 35 years of wage indexed earnings. But, the law requires those taxes to be collected even if a person's earnings aren't high enough to raise their benefit rate. And, the Medicare taxes collected from a person's earnings after they have already met the insured status requirement for Medicare are do nothing to benefit the worker paying the taxes. All I can conclude is that it's one of the 'social' aspects of Social Security, in that the taxes collected from earnings such as yours help to pay for the cost of the program.

Best, Jerry