Beneficiaries of Social Security may start receiving smaller checks within less than a decade. The trusts responsible for offering a financial safety net to recipients-the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI)-are expected to exhaust their reserves by 2034, as per the most recent report issued by the Social Security Board of Trustees. At such point, the merged funds will only be sufficient to meet 81% of the planned benefits.
The funds are shrinking as the Social Security Administration disburses more in benefits than the incoming revenue from payroll tax. Social Security provided benefits to around 68 million people last year.
The trustees' projection indicates that the funds are being exhausted quicker than their estimate from the last year. The adoption of the Social Security Fairness Act at the start of the year escalated benefits for over 2.8 million former employees from the public sector who didn't previously benefit from Social Security.
The general American populace is growing more concerned about the potential inability to receive full Social Security benefits upon retirement. Replenishing the reserves would necessitate Congress to either scale back payments to beneficiaries or escalate taxes.
The shortfall hasn't been addressed by Congress in its latest budget talks. However, Frank Bisignano, the Commissioner of Social Security, said that the financial condition of the trusts “stays a key priority” for the current administration of President Donald Trump.