Texans' Social Security in question if state secedes (2024)

One question Texans pushing for secession from the union have on their minds is whether or not they would still get their Social Security payments if Texas left the country, and experts spoke with Newsweek about what they think would happen.

While not an overwhelmingly popular notion, some Texas residents have voiced their support for greater freedom and a total exit from the United States. However, a move of that nature has some asking what this would mean for benefits like Social Security that residents have been paying into their entire lives.

"If we secede, do we still get our Social Security monthly checks?" one user wrote in a Texas Patriots for Secession Facebook group.

According to Social Security experts, the answer to that question is a bit complicated.

Social Security was originally established under the Social Security Act of 1935 as a federal program to support the elderly and disabled as well as the survivors of deceased workers. It's entirely funded through payroll taxes under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA), which means it relies on current workers' contributions to support current retirees.

If Texas ever did actually secede from the United States, issues would pop up because Social Security is a federal program fully managed and distributed by the federal government.

"If a state were to secede, its residents would no longer be under the jurisdiction of U.S. federal law, which includes the Social Security Act and its subsequent amendments," True Tamplin, the founder of Finance Strategists, told Newsweek.

In all likelihood, some believe the separation would mean residents in the seceding state would lose all eligibility for Social Security benefits since they would no longer be contributing their taxes to the federal program, Tamplin said.

And unfortunately, that would mean all residents' former contributions would remain within the federal system, unable to support them when it comes time for retirement.

"The program does not operate like a personal savings account but rather as a social insurance system," Tamplin said.

Operating as a new country, Texas would need to establish its own rules about how to support retirees and those with disabilities, which have historically been covered by Social Security and SSDI benefits.

"If Texas isn't part of the U.S. anymore, it will need to figure out a new way to help these people," Michael Ryan, a finance expert who runs michaelryanmoney.com, told Newsweek. "This is a big job and Texas will have to be really smart about how it handles its money to make this work."

If this was the case, Texas would need to establish and explain its new rules, but that might end up being a significant challenge, given how many people are involved.

"Imagine how confusing this will be for people to understand new rules," Ryan said. "And what about residents that move into or out of Texas throughout their working careers? Or a company headquartered in Texas?"

Still, the conversation could be a moot point, given that the U.S. Constitution does not permit any secession of states. After the Civil War, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White (1869) that states could not secede unilaterally from the Union.

Therefore, any acts from an insurgent Texas legislature, even if ratified by the majority of Texans, would be null and void.

The financial responsibility that Texas would potentially have towards residents expecting their monthly Social Security checks today and in the future could be an overwhelming obstacle as well.

"Seceding from the union would be disastrous for Texans," Kevin Thompson, a certified financial planner and the founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, told Newsweek. "Texas would have to take ownership of all Social Security benefits on behalf of the state."

All Medicare and Medicaid programs, in addition to other social net programs, would also be placed under the authority of the Texas government, meaning some of the most vulnerable residents in the state could be at risk.

"It is likely that the Social Security system would change under the new regime," Thompson said. "Would it still exist, possibly, but it may look very different than it is currently."

It's possible that the money already paid by Texans into the system could be sent back to the state, but there's no standard legal framework that would ensure this. Negotiations would have to be discussed, and Texas and the Social Security Administration would likely have two very different goals, especially as the benefits fund for Social Security is set to run out by the early 2030s.

However, some believe that the United States would end up handling this in a similar way to how they deal with Americans who move abroad.

Moving abroad does not immediately disqualify Americans from their Social Security payments, but secession could mean something entirely different due to the underlying tension that would exist between Texas and the rest of America.

"There would almost certainly be litigation and it would get settled out within the court system," Tyler Meyer, financial planner and president of QED Wealth Solutions, told Newsweek. "I would anticipate some type of settlement that reduced benefits but did not entirely preclude them. In other words, a compromise would seem most likely."

This could look like a refund based on the amounts deducted, but it would also need to be "weighed with the overall health of Social Security trust funds which we all know aren't in great shape," Meyer said.

Despite fringe groups pushing for state secession, Meyer believes situations like Social Security present a compelling example of why full secession would never prove likely.

"The state system and the federal system are too intertwined to think this is at all likely," Meyer said. "I just find it extremely unlikely that politicians and the populace at large have the political will to make this happen."