CRS: Social Security Trust Funds Depleted in 2034, 2052

The two separate trust funds authorized under Title II of the Social Security Act, the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund, will be solvent through 2034 and 2052, says a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

In “Social Security: The Trust Funds,” the CRS reports that as of December 2019, there were 64.1 million Social Security beneficiaries. Approximately 70% were retired workers and 13% were disabled workers. The remaining beneficiaries were the survivors of deceased insured workers or the spouses and children of retired or disabled workers.

In 2019, the report says, Social Security payroll taxes totaled $944.5 billion and accounted for 89.0% of the program’s total income. In addition to payroll taxes, the Social Security program receives income from other sources.

• Certain Social Security beneficiaries must include a portion of their Social Security benefits in taxable income for purposes of the federal income tax, and the Social Security program receives a portion of those taxes. In 2019, revenue from the taxation of benefits totaled $36.5 billion, accounting for 3.4% of Social Security’s total income.
• Social Security receives reimbursements from the General Fund of the Treasury for a variety of purposes. General Fund reimbursements accounted for less than 0.1% of Social Security’s total income.
• The Social Security program receives interest income from the U.S. Treasury on its investments in special U.S. government obligations. In 2019, that amounted to $80.8 billion, accounting for 7.6% of the program’s total income.

Solvency

The CRS says that projections show that the OASI fund will remain solvent until 2034, and the DI fund will remain solvent until 2052. That means that each is projected to be able to pay benefits scheduled under current law in full, and on time, up to that those respective years.

But after that, just because the trust funds will be depleted doesn’t mean that they won’t be able to pay benefits. They still will have continuing source of income, the CRS points out, and it says that after 2034, the OASI will be able to pay 77% of scheduled benefits. The DI will do even better, the CRS projects, being able to pay 91% of scheduled benefits after 2052.