2004 OASDI Trustees Report

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II. OVERVIEW

B. TRUST FUND FINANCIAL OPERATIONS IN 2003

The table below shows the income, expenditures, and assets for the OASI, the DI and the combined OASDI Trust Funds in calendar year 2003.

Table II.B1.--Summary of 2003 Trust Fund Financial Operations
 
Amounts (in billions)
OASI
DI
OASDI
Assets at the end of 2002
$1,217.5
$160.5
$1,378.0
Total income in 2003
543.8
88.1
631.9
 
Net contributions
456.1
77.4
533.5
 
Taxation of benefits
12.5
.9
13.4
 
Interest
75.2
9.7
84.9
Total expenditures in 2003
406.0
73.1
479.1
 
Benefit payments
399.8
70.9
470.8
 
Railroad Retirement financial interchange
3.6
.2
3.7
 
Administrative expenses
2.6
2.0
4.6
Net increase in assets in 2003
137.8
15.0
152.8
Assets at the end of 2003
1,355.3
175.4
1,530.8

Note: Totals do not necessarily equal the sums of rounded components.

In 2003, net contributions accounted for 84 percent of total trust fund income. Net contributions consist of taxes paid by employees, employers and the self-employed on earnings covered by Social Security. These taxes were paid on covered earnings up to a specified maximum annual amount, which was $87,000 in 2003 and is increased each year automatically (to $87,900 in 2004) as the average wage increases. The tax rates scheduled under current law for 2003 and later are shown in table II.B2.

Table II.B2.--Tax Rates for 2003 and Later
 
OASI
DI
OASDI
Tax rate for employees and employers, each (in percent)
5.30
0.90
6.20
Tax rate for self-employed persons (in percent)
10.60
1.80
12.40

Two percent of OASDI Trust Fund income came from subjecting up to 50 percent of Social Security benefits above a certain level to Federal personal income taxation, and 13 percent of OASDI income came from interest earned on investment of OASDI Trust Fund reserves. Social Security's assets are invested in interest-bearing securities of the U.S. Government. In 2003 the combined trust fund assets earned interest at an effective annual rate of 6.0 percent. More than 98 percent of expenditures from the combined OASDI Trust Funds in 2003 went to pay retirement, survivor, and disability benefits totaling $470.8 billion. The financial interchange with the Railroad Retirement program resulted in a payment of $3.7 billion from the combined OASDI Trust Funds, or about 0.8 percent of total expenditures. The administrative expenses of the Social Security program were $4.6 billion, or about 1.0 percent of total expenditures.

Assets of the trust funds provide a reserve to pay benefits whenever expenditures exceed income. Assets increased by $152.8 billion in 2003 because income to each fund exceeded expenditures. At the end of 2003, the combined assets of the OASI and the DI Trust Funds were 306 percent of estimated expenditures for 2004.

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