Why do we contribute payroll taxes for Social Security? Not because we need to — the money could come from other federal revenues.

Because… well — politics.

Who says?

FDR himself.

Here’s Luther Gulick’s eye-popping account in the online archives of the Social Security Administration as referenced by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home and Library in Hyde Park, N.Y. We just came across it again while trolling other collections for information on Gulick.

Roosevelt wanted Americans to contribute specifically to Social Security so it would feel like their money and “no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program.”

Read Gulick’s full account here:

https://www.ssa.gov/history/Gulick.html