… If you didn’t owe federal income tax for 2007, you can still get a rebate of $300 (single) or $600 (married filing jointly) if you and/or your spouse had at least $3,000 in what the IRS calls qualifying income.

Qualifying income includes earnings from a job or self-employment, certain Social Security benefits, certain railroad retirement benefits, certain veterans’ benefits and nontaxable combat pay if it is included as earned income on a tax return.

Social Security retirement, survivor and disability benefits qualify, but Supplemental Security Income does not. (SSI provides cash payments to poor people who are aged, blind or disabled.) See details under this link<

See this article in today’s Baltimore Sun, discussing all the ways Social Security protects us:

….The program will provide financial support to your spouse and young children if you die early. It is disability insurance if you are seriously injured. And Social Security provides a substantial amount of retirement income for the poor and prosperous, and is likely the only retirement benefit you will get that is annually adjusted for inflation.
full article here:

The American Federation of Government Employees and advocacy groups representing progressives and senior citizens called on Congress Tuesday to increase funding for the Social Security Administration and to pass legislation that would give lawmakers greater oversight of the agency’s staff levels, office closures and budgets.
“In fiscal 2008, we received a slight increase over the president’s budget, but the previous 10 years, Congress appropriated less than the president asked for, and the president asked for less than what we need to service the country,” AFGE Council of Social Security Administration Operations Locals President Witold Skwierczynski said. “Our staffing levels are the lowest they’ve been since 1972; we have slipped below 60,000 employees.”
SSA officials did not return requests for comment Tuesday afternoon. See article here:

Today’s Post reports on the effects of President Bush’s proposed budget:

…But it may take more than that. It’s clear that many federal programs can only run smoothly when properly staffed.

Take Social Security. In recent years, the agency’s field offices have lost staff, and waiting times for the public have increased. More than 50 percent of people who call a field office get a busy signal. At some offices, people who show up without an appointment often wait an hour or longer to be checked in, and then wait some more to see a claims representative.

“Without sustained, adequate funding, this situation will only worsen,” Astrue wrote in his budget message.

The president and Astrue are not far apart on their requests to Congress. Bush’s budget would provide $10.3 billion to cover administrative expenses at the Social Security Administration. Astrue has requested $100 million more, or $10.4 billion, to administer Social Security programs and benefits. See full article here:

Michael Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security:
I know from personal experience how difficult Social Security’s disability process can be. When my father was 52, he suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage caused by a rare form of brain cancer. As I took care of the application for him, it opened my eyes to the complicated rules associated with our disability programs.

Each year, approximately 2.5 million people apply for Social Security disability benefits. On average, one-third of them are approved upon initial application, which takes an average of three months for a decision. But for those who are denied and appeal the decision to the hearing level, it can take a long time to receive a decision – much too long, in my opinion.

Right now, there are more than 750,000 cases waiting for a hearing and the average time to get a hearing decision is 499 days. Pending hearings have doubled since 2001. In addition, the number of applications for disability benefits has been extraordinarily high throughout the last seven years and we can expect it to be even higher in the coming years. See full story here: