[gottorf]

Right, but you won't receive 8x the benefits that your payroll taxes will eventually pay for, either. In fact, your wife will probably receive a higher percentage of her FICA contributions in eventual SS benefits than you, because there's a slight element of redistribution built in; it's not a straightforward "you get back what you paid into".

For me, the much more concerning part of Social Security is the demographic challenge: the program started out with over 10 workers per retiree and is down to less than three[0]. It doesn't matter how you play with the sliding scales of who pays how much and what the earnings cap is, when in the end it's two to three working people's wages being taxed to support one retiree.

[0]: https://www.ssa.gov/history/ratios.html

[UncleMeat]

That's okay. I also won't receive as much benefits from my income taxes as my aunt who has a serious brain injury and can't take care of herself. I don't exactly need the money.