2002 OASDI Trustees Report |
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The table below shows the income and expenditures for the OASI, the DI, and the combined OASI and DI Trust Funds in calendar year 2001.
Type of income or expenditure |
Amount in calendar year 2001 (in billions) |
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---|---|---|---|---|
$518.1 |
$83.9 |
$602.0 |
||
441.5 |
74.9 |
516.4 |
||
11.9 |
.8 |
12.7 |
||
64.7 |
8.2 |
72.9 |
||
377.5 |
61.4 |
438.9 |
||
372.3 |
59.6 |
431.9 |
||
3.3 |
1/ |
3.3 |
||
2.0 |
1.7 |
3.7 |
1 Less than $50 million. |
Note: Totals do not necessarily equal the sums of rounded components.
In 2001, 86 percent of total income to the trust funds consisted of taxes paid by employees, employers and the self-employed on earnings covered by the Social Security program. These taxes were paid on covered earnings up to a specified maximum annual amount, called the contribution and benefit base, which was $80,400 in 2001 and is increased each year automatically as the average wage in the U.S. increases. The tax rates scheduled under current law for 2001 and later are shown in table II.B2.
5.30 |
0.90 |
6.20 |
|
10.60 |
1.80 |
12.40 |
Income tax revenue that results from subjecting up to 50 percent of Social Security benefits to Federal personal income taxation is credited to the OASI and DI Trust Funds and provided 2 percent of total income in 2001.1 The final major source of income to the trust funds is interest earned on their invested assets. By law these assets are invested in interest-bearing securities of the U.S. Government or in other securities guaranteed for both principal and interest by the U.S. Government. In 2001 the combined trust fund assets earned interest at an effective annual rate of 6.6 percent. During the same period, the average interest rate on new securities purchased by the trust funds was 5.2 percent. This interest income provided 12 percent of total combined trust fund income.
Over 98 percent of expenditures from the combined OASI and DI Trust Funds in 2001 went to pay retirement, survivor and disability benefits totaling $431.9 billion. The financial interchange with the Railroad Retirement program resulted in a payment of $3.3 billion from the combined OASI and DI Trust Funds in 2001, or about 0.7 percent of total expenditures. The administrative expenses of the Social Security program were $3.7 billion in 2001, or about 0.8 percent of total expenditures in the year.
Assets of the trust funds increased by $163.1 billion in 2001 because income to each fund exceeded expenditures, as shown in table II.B3.
$931.0 |
$118.5 |
$1,049.4 |
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518.1 |
83.9 |
602.0 |
||
377.5 |
61.4 |
438.9 |
||
140.6 |
22.5 |
163.1 |
||
1,071.5 |
141.0 |
1,212.5 |
Note: Totals do not necessarily equal the sums of rounded components.
The assets of each trust fund are intended to provide a reserve that can be used to pay benefits in years when expenditures exceed income due to, for example, a temporary downturn in the economy. Such reserves allow for time to enact legislation to correct unanticipated shortfalls, when needed, without disruption of the timely payment of benefits. At the end of 2001, the combined assets of the OASI and the DI Trust Funds were 261 percent of estimated expenditures for the following year.
1 The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund receives the additional revenue from subjecting up to 85 percent of benefits to Federal personal income taxation.
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