Income over $176k is definitely taxed, at progressively higher marginal rates. If you won the lottery you'd lose half of the jackpot to taxes. Only one specific

Income over $176k is definitely taxed, at progressively higher marginal rates. If you won the lottery you'd lose half of the jackpot to taxes. Only one specific type of tax has a cap, not that the buckets really mean anything. Courts have found that Social Security is not an entitlement, it is a welfare program. You can collect more than you ever paid in, and be denied benefits for arbitrary reasons. However, practically speaking, they treat it like an entitlement in that paying in more money generally increases the amount of your benefits, up to a limit. If people were to be denied benefits on a large scale, then people paying into it might vote to eliminate it.