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Social Security’s trust fund reserves were projected in the 2022 Social Security Trustees Report to become depleted in the future, potentially leading to a forced 20 percent cut in payable benefits in the 2030s unless legislative changes are adopted to prevent it. Assuring that Social Security stays strong means that Congress would need to evaluate very different reform options with complex and wide-ranging impacts--options such as making higher levels of income subject to the portion of payroll taxes dedicated to Social Security or raising Social Security's normal retirement age--and then pass the reforms it chooses so that they can become law. How would you address the solvency issue? In the Academy's Social Security Challenge, develop your proposed reform approach by traveling through a virtual town where you’ll learn residents’ different views on reform ideas and information about their impacts, and puzzle through choices. In the Challenge finale, select and submit your approach from a palette of possible reform options and see how well it works to address the solvency issue.
Learn More With Related Academy Resources
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Essential Elements: Raising the Social Security Retirement Age
Contingencies magazine cover story (March-April 2023)
Social Security: System Overview and Financial Condition
Issue Brief: An Actuarial Perspective on the 2022 Social Security Trustees Report + accompanying one-pager with highlights
Reform Options In-Depth
Issue Brief: Raising the Social Security Retirement Age
Issue Brief: Social Security Reform: Benefit Formula Options
Issue Brief: Social Security Reform: Taxation Options
Issue Brief: Individual Equity and Social Adequacy—A Principle-Based Study of Social Security Reform Proposals
All Academy Work on Social Security (incl. all resources above, plus comment letters, other papers, etc.)
