Cato Institute Director of Budget and Entitlement Policy Romina Boccia and Research Consultant Ivane Nachkebia have a new blog post titled “Young Workers Could Lose $110,000 in Lifetime Earnings to Keep Social Security Solvent.”

According to the latest report from the Social Security Trustees, Congress would need to raise the payroll tax rate immediately and permanently by 3.65 percentage points—from 12.4 to 16.05 percent—to close the program’s $25 trillion, 75-year funding shortfall and pay benefits as scheduled under current law.

But even this tax hike would fall short of a lasting solution. While it might extend solvency for 75 years, it would still leave today’s younger workers vulnerable—paying higher taxes throughout their careers only for Social Security to face steep funding shortfalls late in their lives.

Promises to keep Social Security benefits exactly as currently legislated are immensely expensive for younger workers. Constituents should therefore take any electoral promises that Social Security can somehow be sustained without any changes to benefits with a heap of salt. Social Security reform is coming, the authors conclude.

You can read the full piece here. If you would like to speak with Boccia, please contact pr@​cato.​org to set up an interview.

In a forthcoming book, Reimagining Social Security: Global Lessons for Retirement Policy Changes, the authors explain what is wrong with Social Security and present real-world examples of how other nations have successfully stabilized and modernized their pension systems to reflect today’s demographic and economic realities. Reimagining Social Security will be released August 12.