Social Security’s Finances
Alex Brill | Statement before the House Committee on Ways and Means
As the Subcommittee is well aware, the 2011 Social Security Trustees Report was released last month, and it projects that the combined Social Security trust funds will begin to be drawn down in 2023 and will be exhausted in 2036, one year earlier than projected in the 2010 Trustees Report. Increases in both the number and life expectancy of retirees will drive the projected cost from 13.35 percent of taxable payroll in 2011 to 17.56 percent of taxable payroll in 2085. The projected cost in 2085 will exceed projected income levels by 4.24 percent of taxable payroll. The impending insolvency of the Social Security system is not uncertain. According to the Trustees Report, there is a 95 percent probability that the trust funds will be exhausted between 2030 and 2049.