Social security is "slight of hand" too. If you make an average of just $1k/mo before retirement, your SS benefit is $900/month. But if you made 10x ($10k/mo), your SS benefit is only 3x as much [0], despite you paying 10x the taxes during your career.

While this is nowhere near as progressive a tax as regular income tax, it's still a wealth transfer from high earners to low earners.

0. https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/piaformula.html