To the editor:
Just responding to some of the statements made about the teachers retirement program in a June 13 letter to the editor.
I agree that the teachers should not be taxed. This needs to be corrected.
I was a firefighter in Nashua for 27 years. Just to clarify, the state now requires firefighters and police to work till age 50 and 25 years of service, not 45 and 20. In reply to the statement that firefighters and police can also collect Social Security. I have paid into Social Security since I was a teenager. My Social Security deduction was 100 percent what was due. When I was a firefighter, I worked part-time jobs to support my young family, and after retirement worked jobs paying Social Security. Last year I started to collect Social Security. But, because I collect a government pension, the “Windfall Elimination Provision” that was started in the 1980s, I can only get 33 percent of what I was estimated every year by Social Security statements. I certainly didn’t make a windfall amount of money.
This is something that needs to be fixed. I have contacted our Congress people and all I get is a generic form letter. It a shame that our representatives want to give away money to illegals who are in our country and not take care of our own. This is something I paid into and I am not getting the benefit.
I hope that the state takes care of the teachers. They are taking care of our children.
Brian Marquis
Hancock