SS Trustees’ Report released

The Social Security Board of Trustees today released its annualreport on the financial health of the Social Security Trust Funds.  The2007 Trustees Report shows slight improvement in the projectedfinancial status of the Social Security program from last year.             

In the 2007 Annual Report to Congress, the Trustees  announced:            

• Theprojected point at which tax revenues will fall below program costscomes in 2017 — the same as the estimate in last year’s report.              
• Theprojected point at which the Trust Funds will be exhausted comes in2041 — one year later than the projection in last year’s report.              
• Theprojected actuarial deficit over the 75-year long-range period is 1.95percent of taxable payroll — .06 percentage point smaller than in lastyear’s report.              
• Overthe 75-year period, the Trust Funds would require additional revenueequivalent to $4.7 trillion in today’s dollars to pay all scheduledbenefits.  This unfunded obligation is about $100 billion higher thanthe amount estimated last year.   

• “SocialSecurity provides valuable economic protection to workers and theirfamilies.  We owe it to the American public to continue to offer thebest possible support for older Americans, people with disabilities andtheir families in the coming decades,” said Michael J. Astrue,Commissioner of Social Security.  “The Trustees Report is an importanttool for those in the legislative and executive branches who will haveto make the very difficult decisions about how best to ensure SocialSecurity remains viable for the long term.”            

  Other highlights of the Trustees Report include:

  • Incomeincluding interest to the combined Old-Age and Survivors, andDisability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds amounted to $745 billion ($626billion in net contributions, $17 billion from taxation of benefits and$102 billion in interest) in 2006.

  • Total expenditures from the combined OASDI Trust  Funds amounted to $555 billion in 2006.                         

  • The assets of the combined OASDI Trust Funds  increased by about $190 billion in 2006 to a total of $2 trillion

  • During 2006, an estimated 162 million people had  earnings covered by Social Security and paid payroll taxes.      

  • SocialSecurity paid benefits of $546 billion in calendar year 2006.  Therewere 49 million beneficiaries at the end of the calendar year.

  • The cost of $5.3 billion to administer the  program in 2006 was a very low 1.0 percent of total expenditures. The combined Trust Fund assets earned interest at  an effective annual rate of 5.3 percent.