Permanent payroll tax cut could deplete Social Security funds by 2023: Goss

 The Social Security trust fund could be depleted by 2023 if President Trump were to permanently eliminate the payroll tax and not offer a replacement revenue source, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration said Monday.

In a letter to four Senate Democrats who requested an analysis of what would happen if the payroll tax is terminated without a new funding stream for Social Security, Stephen Goss, the chief actuary, estimated the federal government's ability to pay the retirement benefits could stop by mid-2023.

WHAT A TRUMP PAYROLL TAX DEFERRAL WOULD ACTUALLY MEAN FOR YOUR WALLET

“If this hypothetical legislation were enacted, with no alternative source of revenue to replace the elimination of payroll taxes on earned income paid on January 1, 2021 and thereafter, we estimate that [Disability Insurance] DI Trust Fund asset reserves would become permanently depleted in about the middle of calendar year 2021, with no ability to pay DI benefits thereafter," Goss wrote in the letter addressed to Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Since Trump signed an executive action on Aug. 8 ordering Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to postpone the collection of payroll taxes from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31 for individuals earning less than $104,000, he's indicated that he wants to pursue a sweeping elimination of the tax next year.