The main Social Security retirement trust fund is projected to be depleted in late 2032, at which point incoming payroll taxes would only be sufficient to pay roughly 78% of scheduled benefits, requiring an automatic across-the-board benefit cut of around 22% unless Congress intervenes.
It would help if they stopped giving it away to foreigners.
What They Can Do
To prevent the 22% cut in 2032, lawmakers will eventually have to negotiate a combination of the following options:
- Raising the Payroll Tax Rate: Increasing the 6.2% tax rate that workers and employers each pay.
- Increasing the Tax Cap: Subjecting a larger portion of high-income earnings to the Social Security payroll tax.
- Raising the Retirement Age: Gradually pushing the full retirement age past the current threshold of 67.
- Adjusting Benefits: Altering the formula used to calculate initial payouts or the cost-of-living adjustments (COLA).
Will they do it?
