lol, as Gen Z I've more-or-less accepted that my Social Security is just setting my money on fire and dancing in a circle.

Why? It doesn’t have to be that way. Social Security has been successfully bolstered in the past and can be again. I don’t see why it can’t remain solvent for the foreseeable future…

My boomer parents felt the same way and yet they're receiving it right now. 65+ year old people are one of the most powerful voting blocs.

You do not need to be a US citizen to be eligible to collect US Social Security benefits.

https://www.aarp.org/retirement/social-security/questions-an...

Social Security is not a pension - this is a common misconception.

The SS tax is to pay current retirees. There's a formula that states how much you'll get when you retire, but the money you're putting in now is not being saved/invested for your benefit in the future.

The short version: Money you put into SS is not your money.

You still put a bunch of money into it on the promise that after retirement you will have income, and that promise is broken when you renounce your citizenship. Also, Social Security is closer to real pensions than you think, they're just different from the theoretical concept of a pension that isn't actually used outside of the Post Office.

You're using vague words like "promise". "Hope" would be more accurate. Someone can correct me, but if Congress passes a law tomorrow saying they're not going to pay social security after 2025, that is probably allowed. The only "promise" is to people who are currently retired.

Furthermore, if you renounce your citizenship, it is you who are choosing not to get this benefit. It is a defined benefit for citizens, and you are choosing not to be one.

As for similarity to pensions: Far from it. When the government has an excess (i.e. total SS taxes collected is greater than payouts for a given year), they are not allowed to hold it or invest it. Pensions are/were always invested, or at least held.

> Furthermore, if you renounce your citizenship, it is you who are choosing not to get this benefit. It is a defined benefit for citizens

Individuals who renounce their US citizenship (or were never citizens) are still eligible to receive SS benefits; SS actually has very little to do with citizenship.

Why would they refund past taxes you'd paid?

The money you put into taxes went into national defense that kept you safe, roads you drove on, schools that provided an educated workforce that made the goods and services you consumed, etc...

Money put into Social Security is just lost to you unless you are renouncing your money after retirement.

That's a rather generous assessment of how my money was used in Iraq, for instance. That sounds glib, but if you could pick and choose which things your taxes funded or not it would kind of make the whole concept of the state untenable.