Social Security Solvency (Retirement Issues, Plan and Lifestyles)

The Social Security system is currently generating surplus tax revenues. However, under the intermediate assumptions of the Social Security Board of Trustees, the trust funds are estimated to be depleted in 2040, at which point 74% of benefits would be payable with incoming receipts. This book analyzes the effect of 12 Social Security solvency options on Social Security beneficiaries. These 12 individual options fall into 6 categories of reform proposals. For some reform options, the authors presented two or more variations on how they could be approached. They include the most commonly discussed or introduced proposals to improve cash flow and achieve Social Security solvency. Each section of the book focuses on one reform category and explains current Social Security policy, reasons why some policymakers propose this particular type of reform, how the reform proposal works, the distributional effects of the reform proposal on various types of Social Security beneficiaries, and legislation related to the reform being analyzed.