The Social Security payroll taxes are recorded through the different program trust funds, which are used to track the inflows and outflows of the program. The trust funds are presently taking in more money then they are issuing in benefits, and they therefore run annual surpluses. Rather than saving the surpluses, the government spends the money on other parts of the budget, such as defense, domestic discretionary programs and other entitlement programs.

Social Security surpluses will continue until 2014, at which time the program will no longer take in enough money to cover benefits. The government will have borrowed over $3 trillion from the trust funds and not a penny will be left to cover the owed benefits. To repay the $3 trillion, the government will have to either cut spending by $3 trillion, raise taxes on every family in America by $43,000, or increase the national debt by an additional $3 trillion.

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