Research Report Social Security and Medicare Benefits and Taxes: 2023
C. Eugene Steuerle, Karen E. Smith
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Lifetime Social Security and Medicare taxes are scheduled to be significantly lower than lifetime Social Security and Medicare benefits for most workers in future decades, based on the latest data. This report compares the benefits and taxes paid by beneficiaries at the age of 65 from 1960 to 2060 calculated in 2023 dollars. Given the near-term depletion of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, this report illustrates how lawmakers could scale back the rate of growth of benefit increases and still allow lifetime benefits to increase significantly for each cohort of future retirees.

Research Areas Taxes and budgets Social safety net
Tags Taxes and social policy Social Security Medicare
Policy Centers Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
Research Methods Quantitative data analysis