Though Trump pledged to eliminate these income taxes on benefits, it's not solely within his power as president to do so. Congress would have to pass a law eliminating this tax, and even with Republicans controlling the House and Senate, it could still be difficult to pull this off.

In other words, while Musk has publicly advocated for reductions to federal spending in the trillions, there was no explicit evidence of him saying he wants to cut Social Security benefits, specifically, or tangible proof of him working towards that alleged objective, as of this writing.

It's important to understand that the table above does not show a tax rate of 50% or 85% -- you won't see 85% of your benefits carted away in taxes. Instead, those are the portions of your benefits that might end up taxed, depending on your income.

Social Security is the U.S. government's biggest program; as of June 30, 2024, about 67.9 million people, or one in five Americans, collected Social Security benefits. This year, we're seeing