![New Social Security Page Hero](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/optimized/public/2026-03/Social%20Security%20Page%20Hero_C.jpg?itok=y-Dc5bfd) # Cato’s Hub for Social Security Reform At a Glance Social Security is on an unsustainable path. According to the latest projections, it will reach technical insolvency by 2032, threatening retirees with automatic 22 percent benefit cuts. The program is also a major driver of persistent federal deficits and mounting debt. Policymakers should not delay reforms any further and consider fundamentally rethinking the program’s structure—to protect seniors from old-age poverty, spare younger workers from higher tax burdens, and move the United States toward fiscal sustainability. Share This Topic ![Social Security is projected to add 5 trillion to federal debt by 2032](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/2026-06/Social%20Security%20is%20projected%20to%20add%205%20trillion%20to%20federal%20debt%20by%202032.png?itok=UwLSyCgy) ![News Icon (Transparent)](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2025-09/newspaper3.png?itok=lObDFvus) ##### **News & Updates:** The Crisis Is Here. Reform Cannot Wait. News Releases • September 17, 2026 ##### [What Would a Social Security Payroll Tax Hike Cost Workers? | New Cato Analysis](/news-releases/what-would-social-security-payroll-tax-hike-cost-workers-new-cato-analysis) News Releases • June 9, 2026 ##### [Social Security Report Is Out — Cato Scholar Reacts](/news-releases/social-security-report-out-cato-scholar-reacts) News Releases • October 24, 2025 ##### [Cato Expert: Social Security’s 2.8% COLA Uses ‘Outdated’ Metric](/news-releases/cato-expert-social-securitys-28-cola-uses-outdated-metric) ![Poll Icon (Transparent)](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2025-09/chat-poll-svgrepo-com.png?itok=JjJIgTK0) ##### **Data & Polling:** Americans Want an Independent Commission to Fix Social Security Among all the ideas tested, one result stands out: Americans want to take politics out of Social Security. There is strong bipartisan support for tasking a commission of independent experts with reform. [View the Survey Results](/survey-reports/new-poll-most-americans-expect-social-security-benefit-cuts-third-believe-program) ![Calculator Icon - Social Security Hub](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2025-10/calculator.png?itok=E8wFlW0J) ##### **Cato Social Security Model** Cato has developed a Social Security model to score a wide range of reform options. We welcome proposals from researchers, members of Congress, and federal agency staff. See this menu of Social Security policy options to get started. If you have a proposal you’d like us to score, contact us at [socialsecurity@​cato.​org](mailto:socialsecurity@cato.org). [View Social Security Policy Options Menu](https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/documents/Social-Security-Policy-Options-Menu.pdf) [![Social Security’s Trust Fund Promo - Piggy Bank with Fishing Hook](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/promo_block/public/2025-10/piggybank.jpg?itok=LdS-xD5s)](https://www.cato.org/visual-feature/social-securitys-financial-crisis) ##### Visual Feature ### [Social Security’s Financial Crisis: The Trust Fund Myth Uncovered](https://www.cato.org/visual-feature/social-securitys-financial-crisis) Most people misunderstand the Social Security trust fund. They believe it holds real financial assets that ensure future benefits—the equivalent of a piggy bank stuffed with dollar bills. But there’s a big problem: *the piggy bank is empty.* Learn more in our latest interactive visual feature. [Read More](/visual-feature/social-securitys-financial-crisis) ### Payroll tax hike calculator According to the [2026 Social Security Trustees Report](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/TR/2026/index.html) and the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) [2026 Long-Term Projections for Social Security](https://www.cbo.gov/publication/62556), if Congress chose to close the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance program’s funding shortfall without reducing scheduled benefits, legislators would need to raise the combined Social Security payroll tax rate immediately and permanently from 12.4 to 16.95 percent. The [Cato Social Security model](https://www.cato.org/blog/why-congressional-budget-offices-social-security-shortfall-looks-smaller) estimates a higher required rate of 17.26 percent. This interactive tool illustrates Social Security’s funding challenge by showing the payroll tax rates and resulting annual tax burdens that would be required to close the shortfall entirely through a payroll tax rate increase. Enter a yearly salary to see the total annual payroll taxes owed under each scenario, along with the difference from today’s tax burden. Your yearly salary: ▲ ▼ Invalid input New payroll tax rate: Enter your yearly salary to see how payroll tax changes would affect you. Values range from $5,000 to $176,100. Set the proposed Social Security payroll tax rate. The scale runs from the current rate of 12.4 percent up to the CBO estimate of 17.31 percent. Social Security payroll taxes The Social Security payroll tax applies to annual earnings up to $184,500 in 2026. Additional earnings beyond this level are not subject to the tax. This level grows automatically based on the national average wage index and is set to rise to $192,300 in January 2027. ### **Featured Analyses:** *Cutting Through the Myths* Social Security is surrounded by myths that stand in the way of reform. Cato’s research dispels these misconceptions and outlines a path toward lasting reform. [![Family with Piggy Bank](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-09/piggy-bank-family.jpg?itok=yAHL0plu)](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/social-security-trust-fund-myth) Study ### [The Social Security Trust Fund Myth](/policy-analysis/social-security-trust-fund-myth) By [Romina Boccia](https://www.cato.org/people/romina-boccia) The Social Security trust fund is a figurative piggy bank that holds only IOUs issued by the Treasury to the Social Security Administration, not actual money. [![Man holding back hands of a clock in front of Social Security card](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2024-07/GettyImages-1455566007.jpg?itok=x2iqw4fI)](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/congress-cant-outgrow-or-inflate-away-social-security-financing-problem) Study ### [Congress Can’t Outgrow or Inflate Away the Social Security Financing Problem](/policy-analysis/congress-cant-outgrow-or-inflate-away-social-security-financing-problem) By [Romina Boccia](https://www.cato.org/people/romina-boccia) and [Dominik Lett](https://www.cato.org/people/dominik-lett) Congress must act quickly to reform Social Security and avoid a fiscal crisis fueled by rising costs and demographic pressures. [![Daughter with mother financial planning at kitchen table](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-09/mother-daughter-planning.jpg?itok=m_hjj5Wd)](https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/rethinking-social-security-global-perspective) Study ### [Rethinking Social Security from a Global Perspective](/policy-analysis/rethinking-social-security-global-perspective) By [Romina Boccia](https://www.cato.org/people/romina-boccia) and [Ivane Nachkebia](https://www.cato.org/people/ivane-nachkebia) Policymakers should fundamentally restructure Social Security to protect seniors from poverty while enabling younger workers to save more on their own. ### **Fast Facts and Commentary:** *The Raw Deal, Exposed* Social Security is an intergenerational income transfer program that’s becoming an increasingly bad deal for younger generations. Cato’s quick takes expose this dynamic and reveal the true scale of the program’s financial challenges in plain language. [![Hands Holding Money Representing Generational Transfer of Wealth](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-09/holding-money.jpg?itok=9rGrlPbI)](https://www.cato.org/blog/truth-about-social-security-legal-ponzi-scheme) blog ### [Social Security Is a Legal Ponzi Scheme](/blog/truth-about-social-security-legal-ponzi-scheme) By [Romina Boccia](https://www.cato.org/people/romina-boccia) It’s time to confront the painful but necessary truth that no matter what story politicians told, Social Security has always been an income transfer program, not a savings system. [![Woman Struggling Financially with Open Wallet and Calculator](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-09/woman-struggling-financially.jpg?itok=cz6BPIRQ)](https://www.cato.org/blog/young-workers-could-lose-110000-lifetime-earnings-keep-social-security-solvent) blog ### [Young Workers Could Lose $110,000 in Lifetime Earnings to Keep Social Security Solvent](/blog/young-workers-could-lose-110000-lifetime-earnings-keep-social-security-solvent) By [Romina Boccia](https://www.cato.org/people/romina-boccia) and [Ivane Nachkebia](https://www.cato.org/people/ivane-nachkebia) The promises to keep Social Security benefits exactly as currently legislated are immensely expensive for younger workers, whether Congress tries to levy additional taxes on all workers or only on those with earnings above the payroll tax cap. [![Social Security cards wrapped in red tape with a 'Danger' label](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-06/GettyImages-2208007854.jpg?itok=cgAmxRn0)](https://www.cato.org/blog/social-securitys-shortfall-worse-trustees-project) blog ### [Social Security’s Shortfall Is Worse than Trustees Project](/blog/social-securitys-shortfall-worse-trustees-project) By [Romina Boccia](https://www.cato.org/people/romina-boccia) and [Ivane Nachkebia](https://www.cato.org/people/ivane-nachkebia) The 2026 Trustees report is yet another reminder that Congress should stop kicking the can down the road on Social Security reform. Whether one accepts the Trustees’ or less optimistic fertility assumptions, the main conclusion is the same: the program is on an unsustainable path, and delay only increases the cost of fixing it. [View More Related Content](https://www.cato.org/search/topic/23/category/blog) ### **Books and Deeper Research:** *Blueprints for Reform* Explore in-depth research on Social Security and the broader US retirement system. [![Social Security cards and a $100 bill.](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-06/GettyImages-1485764306.jpg?itok=YD53GItX)](https://www.cato.org/outside-articles/social-securitys-role-federal-debt-explosion-past-present-reform-imperative) Wharton Pension Research Council Working Paper ### [Social Security’s Role in the Federal Debt Explosion: Past, Present, and the Reform Imperative](/outside-articles/social-securitys-role-federal-debt-explosion-past-present-reform-imperative) By [Romina Boccia](https://www.cato.org/people/romina-boccia) and [Ivane Nachkebia](https://www.cato.org/people/ivane-nachkebia) Social Security is not just the largest federal program but also a key contributor to the United States’ fiscal imbalance. [![Analyzing Retirement Systems - Cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-10/AnalyzingRetirementSystems%20Cropped.jpg?itok=HfPPLuAv)](https://www.cato.org/outside-articles/analyzing-retirement-systems-through-triad-framework-lessons-us-reform) Journal of New Finance ### [Analyzing Retirement Systems Through a Triad Framework: Lessons for U.S. Reform](/outside-articles/analyzing-retirement-systems-through-triad-framework-lessons-us-reform) By [Romina Boccia](https://www.cato.org/people/romina-boccia) and [Ivane Nachkebia](https://www.cato.org/people/ivane-nachkebia) As U.S. Social Security approaches insolvency, this paper analyzes the program’s challenges through a political economy lens and makes two new contributions. [![Reimagining Social Security](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-08/Reimagining%20Social%20Security_16x9.jpg?itok=-G1STGQh)](https://www.cato.org/books/reimagining-social-security) books ### [*Reimagining Social Security*](/books/reimagining-social-security) By [Romina Boccia](https://www.cato.org/people/romina-boccia) and [Ivane Nachkebia](https://www.cato.org/people/ivane-nachkebia) *Reimagining Social Security: Global Lessons for Retirement Policy Changes* explains what is wrong with Social Security and how major retirement program reforms from Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and Sweden could work in the United States. Combining interviews and new analysis, this book lays out real-world solutions that protect seniors, preserve individual liberty, and fit the American economic model.