'Don't just sit there': Social Security still faces shortfall over next 75 years

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The 2022 Trustees Report for the Social Security program confirms that the program faces a long-term financing shortfall equivalent to 1% of GDP and consequently federal legislators will need to take steps to fix the problem before 2035 to prevent Americans from experiencing a “precipitous” cut in benefits.

Those findings are not surprising, according to Alicia H. Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, who authored a June article about the report. In her piece, Munnell said the Trustees Report included “no real news about the overall future of the Social Security program” because the forecast remains consistent. According to the Trustees Report, the 75-year deficit in the program declined slightly – 3.42 percent of taxable payrolls in 2022 compared to 3.54 percent in 2021 – and the year for the projected depletion of trust fund assets moved back from 2034 to 2035, but the bottom line remains the same, Munnell said.