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Social Security News
Social Security Trustees Note Slight Improvement in
Programs Status
The long-term financing challenges are still there
 April 24, 2007 - The annual report by the Social
Security Board of Trustees was released yesterday and, much like the
report from the Medicare trustees, it shows a slight improvement in the
financial status of the program from last year.
The Social Security Board of Trustees today
released its annual report on the financial health of the Social
Security Trust Funds. The 2007 Trustees Report shows slight improvement
in the projected financial status of the Social Security program from
last year.
In the 2007 Annual Report to Congress, which
reports on the financial health of the Social Security Trust Funds, the
Trustees announced:
● The projected point at which tax revenues will
fall below program costs comes in 2017 -- the same as the estimate in
last years report.
● The projected point at which the Trust Funds
will be exhausted comes in 2041 -- one year later than the projection in
last years report.
● The projected actuarial deficit over the
75-year long-range period is 1.95 percent of taxable payroll -- .06
percentage point smaller than in last years report.
● Over the 75-year period, the Trust Funds would
require additional revenue equivalent to $4.7 trillion in todays
dollars to pay all scheduled benefits. This unfunded obligation is
about $100 billion higher than the amount estimated last year.
Social Security provides valuable economic
protection to workers and their families. We owe it to the American
public to continue to offer the best possible support for older
Americans, people with disabilities and their families in the coming
decades, said Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security.
The Trustees Report is an important tool for those
in the legislative and executive branches who will have to make the very
difficult decisions about how best to ensure Social Security remains
viable for the long term.
Other highlights of the Trustees Report include:
● Income including interest to the combined
Old-Age and Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Trust Funds
amounted to $745 billion ($626 billion 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.
● Social Security paid benefits of $546 billion
in calendar year 2006. There were 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.
The Board of Trustees is comprised of six members.
Four serve by virtue of their positions with the federal government:
Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury and Managing Trustee;
Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security; Michael O. Leavitt,
Secretary of Health and Human Services; and Elaine L. Chao, Secretary of
Labor. The two public trustees are John L. Palmer and Thomas R. Saving.
The 2007 Trustees Report is posted at
www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TR/TR07/ .
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