[ad_1]
An office of the Social Security Administration in San Francisco.
Getty Images
The social security cost of living adjustment for 2022 may be the biggest in decades.
However, that increase in monthly checks won’t be enough, according to The Senior Citizens League, a non-partisan advocacy group.
In a letter sent to members of the House of Representatives and Senate this week, the group is stepping up calls for new $ 1,400 stimulus checks to be sent immediately to Social Security recipients.
“We believe that a special stimulus for Social Security recipients could help cover the higher costs some would face if next year’s COLA put them in a higher tax bracket, resulting in lower tax rates. ‘Higher taxes on their income and surcharges on their Medicare Part B premiums,’ said the letter, signed by Richard “Rick” Delaney, president of the Senior Citizens League.
Next year’s Social Security COLA is expected to reach at least 6%, due to rising consumer prices. That would be well above the 1.3% increase that beneficiaries have seen in their monthly checks this year.
Yet this more generous increase may not be enough to help beneficiaries, some of whom have had to reduce their food expenses or seek help with pantries or benefits from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, said Senior Citizens. League.
Along with the one-off payments, the group is arguing for changes in the method of calculating the annual COLA. The Social Security Administration currently uses the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and office workers to determine these changes. Also known as the CPI-W, it tracks expenses for those who earn hourly wages or work in office jobs.
More from Personal Finance:
Here are the changes that could be made to your Social Security benefits
This is the age when Americans say they plan to retire
Social Security cost of living adjustment could be at least 6% in 2022
However, a different measure, the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, or CPI-E, would more accurately reflect the costs facing the elderly, the group argues.
The Senior League is also calling for legislation to ensure that social security can continue to pay benefits for the next 75 years. The annual report of Social Security administrators recently showed that the combined trust funds used to pay retirement and disability benefits will run out in 2034, when only 78% of promised benefits will be payable.
The plans proposed by President Joe Biden during his election campaign and by some members of Congress have similar goals.
The Senior Citizens League campaign for a fourth stimulus check for seniors began in September and includes an online petition.
[ad_2]
Source link