GOV/MIL Social Security increase for 2023

mzkitty

I give up.
This will be for people on Disability too.

Social Security recipients are set to receive a major increase in monthly benefits
The Social Security Administration’s annual cost of living adjustment is based on inflation readings, and inflation has seen 40-year highs for months.

Social Security COLA 2023: How Much Will Benefits Increase Next Year?
With inflation still raging, boost in monthly payments could be biggest in decades

by Andy Markowitz, AARP, August 10, 2022


Next year could bring the biggest increase to Social Security benefits in four decades, with rising prices fueling forecasts of a nearly double-digit cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2023.


The inflation gauge used by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to set the annual COLA came in at 9.1 percent for July — the first of three months the agency uses to determine the final figure, slated to be announced in October. Any increase in benefits would take effect in January 2023.


“It’s not possible to be precise until we see the data for the next two months, but it’s probably safe to say at this point we can expect a COLA in the 8 to 10 percent range,” says David Certner, legislative counsel and director of legislative policy for government affairs at AARP. That would be the biggest increase since 1981, when the COLA was 11.2 percent.


Any estimates are preliminary; the actual COLA will depend on changes in consumer prices through the end of September. A 9 percent COLA would boost the average Social Security retirement benefit by about $150 a month in 2023.


“I think somewhere in the 9 percent range is probably a reasonable guess,” says Richard Johnson, director of the retirement policy program at the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization.


Johnson notes that July’s inflation rate dipped slightly from June’s. “If that trend continues, we’re looking at about an 8.6 percent COLA, but it could be a little higher,” he says. “It’s hard to predict exactly how, in particular, energy prices are going to evolve over the next few months. I think that’s probably the big uncertainty.”


Economist Bill McBride, in his Calculated Risk blog, estimates a similar range of 8.5 percent to 9 percent. Josh Gordon, director of health policy for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal policy think tank, predicted 9.9 percent “if things continue on trend” but says the COLA could be around 8.9 percent “if we had no more inflation for the rest of the year.”


The 2022 COLA of 5.9 percent increased the average retirement benefit by $92 a month. In 2021, payments grew by an average of $20 a month on the back of a 1.3 percent adjustment.


A rise in Medicare Part B premiums in 2023 would offset a portion of the COLA increase for Social Security recipients who have Medicare premiums deducted directly from their benefit payments (as is the case with about 70 percent of Part B enrollees). However, the 2023 Part B premium increase is expected to be smaller than this year’s record increase. Medicare typically reveals the following year’s premium prices in October, around the time the SSA announces the new COLA.

 

Doomer Doug

TB Fanatic
It will be eaten up by medicare part b premium and inflation. Look for the demoncrats to bribe for votes with illegals, refugees and the hordes of freebooters. By the way, SCOTUS in one of their ignored decisions okayed free welfare bennies for everybody coming over the border.
 

Abert

Veteran Member
I heard a pundit say Medicare prescription benefits would be capped at $2000. True or not?
Correct - an item in this new "Inflation Bill" that has not gotten much coverage - however I am not exactly sure what will happen. The bill also caps increases in Part D plans at ~6%. This would mainly impact people taking high cost meds the question is will the insurance companies eat the loss or will they simply drop the drug from their covered list? Many of the drugs "list prices" are criminal so lots of room to adjust - one personal example - on my Part D (Aetna/CVS) for a drug I take CVS wants $2000 / month - however I can get the exact same drug through Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Co for $47 / month! Given the size of CVS their price is likely around $40 or so - not bad a $1960 markup - lots of other drugs also are priced the same. Likely we will not know the impact till the new plans come out in a few months.

BTW: Mark Cuban's Operation: Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company Only handles generic drugs but if he stocks it - likely the best price you are going to get.
 

CaryC

Has No Life - Lives on TB
And whether people want to believe it or not, the “increase in social security due to inflation” will do nothing but keep inflation going up rather than address it. It is going to add to the velocity of cash.

Not only that but, the inflation rate is still being figured until the end of.......Aug, Sept. (Biden saying zero inflation, but then does he even buy anything or do our tax dollars do that?) And then the COLA hits in Jan 2023, when inflation is already past that, and going up, up and awwwwaaaay, my beautiful, my beautiful........living in the behind the times.
 

Kris Gandillon

The Other Curmudgeon
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Medicare cost will go up, and the income tax rates won't change to compensate for the boost in income.
Are you saying the increase will throw some people into next higher tax bracket? Possible, I guess, in the lower tax bracket range. But speaking of ranges, they do tend to adjust those ranges for each tax bracket every year. I have not seen the tables for 2023 yet but they should be coming out soon if they aren’t already out there.
 

33dInd

Veteran Member
Are you saying the increase will throw some people into next higher tax bracket? Possible, I guess, in the lower tax bracket range. But speaking of ranges, they do tend to adjust those ranges for each tax bracket every year. I have not seen the tables for 2023 yet but they should be coming out soon if they aren’t already out there.
As explained to me. There is a percentage of your social security that is taxable. And that percentage has not been changed in 30 years
 

von Koehler

Has No Life - Lives on TB
And many .fedgov programs are based on income so higher payments might either reduce benefits or eliminate them in their entirety.
 

wintery_storm

Veteran Member
It will be eaten up by medicare part b premium and inflation. Look for the demoncrats to bribe for votes with illegals, refugees and the hordes of freebooters. By the way, SCOTUS in one of their ignored decisions okayed free welfare bennies for everybody coming over the border.
my hubby gets b,c and d through highmark for free.
 

Kris Gandillon

The Other Curmudgeon
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As explained to me. There is a percentage of your social security that is taxable. And that percentage has not been changed in 30 years
If you have enough additional income beyond Social Security, up to 85% of your Social Security becomes taxable at your normal marginal tax rate.

Here's how to tell if your Social Security benefit is taxable:


Individuals with a combined income between $25,000 and $34,000 are taxed on 50% of their Social Security benefit.
If your combined income exceeds $34,000, 85% of your Social Security income could be taxable.

Married couples face tax on 50% of their Social Security benefit if their combined income is between $32,000 and $44,000.
Up to 85% of Social Security income is taxable for married couples with a combined income that exceeds $44,000.

Is My Social Security Income Taxable?

If Social Security is your only source of retirement income, you aren't likely to have to pay taxes on it. The average Social Security payment in January 2022 was $1,657 for retired workers and $2,753 among married couples who are both receiving benefits, which is below the threshold for taxation of Social Security benefits. However, if your combined income, or the sum of your adjusted gross income, nontaxable interest and half of your Social Security benefit, is more than $25,000 as an individual and $32,000 as a married couple, you will need to pay federal income taxes on part of your Social Security income.

If your combined income is between $25,000 and $34,000 ($32,000 and $44,000 for couples), you could owe income tax on as much as 50% of your Social Security benefit in retirement.

When your income exceeds $34,000 ($44,000 for couples), you may need to pay income tax on as much as 85% of your Social Security income. These income cutoffs are not adjusted for inflation each year.

Social Security recipients receive a Social Security Benefit Statement, Form SSA-1099, each January, which lists the benefits received over the past year. This document can be used to find out the total amount of your annual Social Security payments and calculate if your Social Security benefit will be subject to tax. You can also find this form in your my Social Security account.

Withholding Federal Taxes From Your Social Security Benefit

Those who owe Social Security taxes can make quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS or elect to have federal taxes withheld from their benefit by filling out IRS Form W-4V. "I encourage people to make their life easier and just have it withheld from their checks," says Scott Newhouse, a certified financial planner for Forthright Finances in Thousand Oaks, California. "Making quarterly payments is an extra thing to keep track of." You can choose to have 7%, 10%, 12% or 22% of your monthly Social Security benefit withheld for taxes.

State Taxes on Social Security Income

Most states don't tax Social Security income, but a few do. States that tax Social Security income include Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia, according to state tax research from Wolters Kluwer. In some cases, lower-income seniors may not be subject to the Social Security tax.
 
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