May 31, 2013

Trustees Report No Changes

     From a press release issued by the Social Security Administration:
The Social Security Board of Trustees today released its annual report on the long-term financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds.  The combined assets of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds are projected to become depleted in 2033, unchanged from last year, with 77 percent of benefits still payable at that time.  The DI [Disability Insurance] Trust Fund will become depleted in 2016, also unchanged from last year’s estimate, with 80 percent of benefits still payable.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What would this estimate be if we did not have the FICA tax "holiday"?

Don Levit said...

It would have been the same.
From the Fiscal Year 2014 Analytical Perspectives Budget of the U.S. Government
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2014-PER/pdf/BUDGET-2014-PER.pdf
Page 455 "In 2011, 2012, and 2013, general fund transfers were made to the Social Security trust funds to hold the funds harmless for the two-year (2 percentage point) reduction in the SS payroll tax rate. These transfers substitute for the payroll tax revenue lost by the payroll tax reduction , so that the balances of the SS trust funds are the same as they would have been in the absence of the legislation. As a result, the payroll tax reduction did not impact the long-term solvency of the trust funds."

While the solvency remains the same, from an accounting perspective, tapping the trust funds will increase the deficit and the debt held by the public.
Don Levit