Compliance October 18, 2006

Social Security Increase for 2007 Lower than 2006

October 18, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced the 2007 cost-of-living adjustment for social security and supplemental security income benefits will be 3.3%.
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The increase, which is based on the Consumer Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), is lower than the 4.1% increase beneficiaries received in 2006. According to the SSA announcement, the increase will begin with January 2007 payments to social security benefits recipients and December 29, 2006 payments to supplemental security income benefits recipients.

In addition, the SSA announced that the social security taxable wage base will increase to $97,500 in 2007 from $94,200 in 2006. The SSA said the increase will mean 11 million of the 163 million individuals who pay social security taxes in 2007 will pay additional taxes.

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According to a fact sheet on the SSA Web site, the increase translates to estimated changes to average monthly payments from:

  • $1,011 to $1,044 for all retired workers,
  • $1,658 to $1,713 for a retired couple,
  • $2,098 to $2,167 for a widowed mother with two children,
  • $976 to $1,008 for an aged widower,
  • $1,593 to $1,646 for a disabled worker with a spouse and one or more children, and
  • $947 to $979 for all disabled workers.

The announcement and fact sheet can be found at www.ssa.gov .

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