A new study from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasts that outlays for Social Security payments will exceed revenue paid into the fund by 2033. This is often referred to as ‘depletion.’
This means that it will be necessary to find a form of income that is above expenses, or Social Security payments will begin to decrease. Since this is the only source of income for millions of Americans, the effects could be disastrous for all of society.
The new research is titled ‘CBO Social Security Long-Term Projections for 2022’ and its main conclusion is: “In the CBO projections, Social Security spending exceeds program income in 2022 and increases relative to GDP for the next 75 years, while income remains stable. If combined, the program’s trust funds will be depleted in 2033.”
The scenario is worse for people who will not retire for many years. If Social Security is underfunded, benefits for those in the system in 2033 will be 23% smaller than they are today; but they will be 35% smaller for those who will receive benefits in 2096.
One possible solution is to increase by law the amount of money that currently working people give to the Social Security fund. However, this is unpopular with most members of Congress because it is essentially a tax increase.
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