come to a screeching halt i'll be lucky. >> reporter: but what if americans worked as long as rosa finnegan, whom we interviewed in december? finnegan was coy about her pay but whatever she's making, she's paying taxes: federal and state income, medicare and social security, which vita needle matches. >> i made my first surfboard in 1960, when i was about 12 years old. >> reporter: another older worker we interviewed recently, 66-year-old steve bane. he runs infinity boards, pays himself about $60,000 a year. his yearly tax tab: more than $18,000. and then there was mike grottola, 69, who became a business consultant after trying in vain to get a tech executive job like the one from which he was laid off at 65. >> that big six figure salary that was so great, da-da-da. but at 65, you're not going to make any headway doing that and it was a mistake. let me go on a path that will be way more productive. >> reporter: with his new business up and running, last year grottola paid close to $15,000 in total taxes on income. finally, 71-year-old george mason writing professor don gulear: >> i think