When the Social Security Administration released its annual Trustees’ Report last week, I crunched the numbers to show that the fiscal burden of the program is projected to dramatically increase. Payroll taxes are going to climb rapidly, but spending will grow even faster. As a result, the pro...
Comprehensive and meticulously documented facts about Social Security. Learn about Social Security's taxes, benefits, financial status, reform options, and more. For example: • Taxable Maximum • Causes of Fiscal Problems • Old-Age Benefits • “Looting the Trust Fund” • Personal Ownersh...
(See your full retirement age.) And your annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is based on your benefit. So if you begin claiming Social Security at 62 and start with reduced benefits, your COLA-adjusted benefit will be lower too. The COLA feature can be especially valuable when you ...
Step 3: Remember The Social Security Tax Cap Whencalculating payroll, employers must remember to stop withholding Social Security taxes on any wages that exceed the $160,200 Social Security tax cap. As the Social Security tax cap is $160,200 of gross earnings and the social security tax rate...
Who Would Pay More if the Social Security Payroll Tax Cap Were Raised or Scrapped? On January 1st, the maximum amount of annual earnings subject to the Social Security tax – a.k.a. the payroll tax cap – increased to $118,500. Every year, this cap is adjusted to keep up with inflat...
For years now, economists using the ideas of Modern Money Theory (MMT) have been telling us that the so-called long-term “funding” problems of Social Security (SS) and Medicare emphasized incessantly by supporters of austerity are faux problems. The MM
the Committee suggested that Congress could gradually increase the retirement age or reduce the annual cost-of-living adjustment. To boost revenues, the Committee suggested that Congress could raise the payroll tax or eliminate the income cap so that wages above $106,800 become subject to the payr...
The Social Security cap does not apply to payroll tax deductions for Medicare hospital insurance, which is assessed at a 1.45% rate for employees and employers, and at a 2.9% rate for the self-employed.1 The annual cap increases are not intended to address the big Social Security shortfalls...
Keep in mind that the Social Security program is facing long-term financing shortfalls that could affect future benefits. Increasing the annualSocial Security wage capis one way to limit the shortfall, but it would not completely solve the problem.910 ...
Social Security was never designed to serve as the sole source of a retiree's income. The SSA notes that "on average, Social Security will replace 40% of your annual pre-retirement income."20You may needas much as 80%of your pre-retirement income to retire comfortably.21 The best way t...