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Show Social Security Status Decidedly Stable Some people may have been disturbed recently by published reports allegling that the old-age old-age and survivors insurance program pro-gram was running into financial trouble. I can assure you that the program is financially sound and that there will be enough money to pay all future benefits, and I think that the facts about how the system is financed will show you that this is true. This program is financed, out of the social security tax contributions con-tributions of employees and their employers, and the self-employed. self-employed. These tax contributions contribu-tions go into a separate Trust Fund in the U. S. Treasury and that part of the Fund not needed need-ed for current expenditures is invested In interest-bearing U. S. Government bonds. The interest inter-est on these bonds is added to the Fund. In the 20 years since 1937, the OSI Trust Fund has grown to $23 billion. Under this schedule employed people now pay a social security tax of 2U per cent of their wages up to $4200 per year. A matching 2U per cent is paid by their employers. em-ployers. Self-employed people pay a tax of 3 3 8 percent on their net earnings up to $1200 per year. (A fixed percentage of this tax goes into the disability insurance Trust Fund to finance disability insurance benefits.) During the fiscal year which ended June 30, 1957, income to the Trust Fund totaled $7.1 billion bil-lion Of this, $6.5 billion was tax contributions and $560 million was interest on the invested assets as-sets of the Fund. Benefit payments pay-ments and administrative expenses ex-penses totaled slightly less than $6.7 billion. So the Fund increas ed by more than $400 million, in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1957. The trust Fund has increased every year the program went into operation in 1937, and since the long range trend of the Fund is upward, it will cpntinue to Increase. In-crease. But it has been anticipated anticipat-ed that there will be periods when the margin of Income over outgo would narrowband the outgo might even exceed Income for a time before each increasge in the tax rate becomes effective. With the Income from the taxes tax-es now scheduled in the law, and the interest on investments, there will be enough money to pay all future benefits. The old-age old-age and survivors insurance system sys-tem is self-supporting and it will continue to be self-support-ling. |