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Social Security: Brief Facts and Statistics

Description: This report provides brief facts and statistics about Social Security that are frequently requested by Members of Congress and their staffs. It includes information about Social Security taxes and benefits, the program's impact on recipients' incomes, federal tax receipts, federal spending and the economy, administrative information, and selected facts about Medicare.
Date: March 20, 2003
Creator: Kollmann, Geoffrey
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security: What Happens to Future Benefit Levels Under Various Reform Options

Description: The report first examines several benefit-constraint options. Among them are raising the age at which full Social Security retirement benefits can be received, changing the way initial benefits are computed, and constraining cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs). It also illustrates the effects of creating new personal savings accounts and presents their projected impact as a supplement to, or partial replacement of, the existing system, or as a means to close the gap between the benefit levels pr… more
Date: August 20, 2001
Creator: Koitz, David; Kollmann, Geoffrey & Nuschler, Dawn
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security Reform

Description: Although the Social Security system is now running surpluses of income over outgo, its board of trustees projects that its trust funds would be depleted in 2038 and only 73% of its benefits would be payable then with incoming receipts. The trustees project that on average the system's cost would be 14% higher than its income over the next 75 years; by 2075 it would be 45% higher. The primary reason is demographic: the post-World War II baby boomers will begin retiring in less than a decade and … more
Date: March 20, 2001
Creator: Koitz, David Stuart & Kollmann, Geoffrey
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security Reform

Description: President Bush has highlighted Social Security reform as a top priority during his second term. The President has not presented a detailed plan for reform. Rather, he has put forth guidelines for Congress to consider in the development of legislation to create personal accounts within a program in need of “wise and effective reform.” The President has acknowledged that other changes would be needed to address the system’s projected long-range funding shortfall. In recent years, reform ideas hav… more
Date: September 20, 2005
Creator: Nuschler, Dawn
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security Administration: Administrative Budget Issues

Description: The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers the Social Security program (Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance, or OASDI) and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, and provides administrative support to Medicare and several other federal programs. Total SSA spending in FY2008 was about $658 billion, about 99% of which was mandatory spending on benefit payments. This report focuses on SSA’s administrative spending, which is discretionary and amounts to about 1% of SSA’s … more
Date: August 20, 2009
Creator: Scott, Christine
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security: Raising or Eliminating the Taxable Earnings Base

Description: Social Security taxes are levied on earnings up to a maximum level set each year. In 2004, this maximum — or what is referred to as the taxable earnings base — is $87,900. There is no similar base for the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) portion of the tax; all earnings are taxable for HI purposes. Elimination of the HI base was proposed by President Clinton and enacted in 1993, effectively beginning in 1994. Recently others have proposed that the base for Social Security be raised or eliminate… more
Date: January 20, 2004
Creator: Haltzel, Laura
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security and the Federal Budget: What Does Social Security's Being "Off Budget" Mean?

Description: This report discusses social security and its place in the federal budget. As a result of a series of laws enacted in 1983, 1985 and 1990, Social Security is considered to be "off budget" for federal budget purposes. While the meaning of this might seem obvious--that Social Security is not to be considered as part of the federal budget--many people are confused by the continued use of aggregate budget figures that include Social Security's receipts and expenditures.
Date: July 20, 2000
Creator: Koitz, David S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security's Treatment Under the Federal Budget: A Summary

Description: The treatment of Social Security in the federal budget is often confusing. In legislation enacted in 1983, 1985, and 1990, Social Security was excluded from official budget calculations and largely exempted it from congressional procedures for controlling budget revenues and expenditures. However, because Social Security represents more than a fifth of federal revenues and expenditures, it often is included in summaries of the government's financial flows, or what is referred to as the "unified… more
Date: March 20, 2002
Creator: Koitz, David Stuart
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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