
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 10, 1993                   TAG: 9305100285
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT ON SOCIAL SECURITY

MANY TIMES I have read with interest the scolding letters from readers concerning the lack of factual basis for many of the editorials that appear in this newspaper, and I certainly must agree.

I am writing about a recent editorial concerning tax increases proposed by President Clinton. Your writer, either from disregard of fact or abysmal ignorance, made several comments concerning the increase in taxes on Social Security recipients that should not go unchallenged. The writer commented that a major portion of the present fiscal debt incurred by the government (read Congress) is due to Social Security payments to the elderly.

Fact: Social Security (insurance for old age, survivors and disability) is and has been operating at a surplus (1993 income expected to exceed payments by $53 billion) and, thus, will not contribute one iota to the estimated $310 billion deficit in fiscal 1992-93. By the end of fiscal 1993, this program will have accrued $328 billion in surplus funds, while the general budget has amassed $4 trillion in debt.

Fact: A 1993 retiree with average earnings would have paid in $65,267 plus interest over 44 years. He or she will get this money back in 14-plus years, not the few short years indicated by the editorialist.

Payroll taxes paid into Social Security may not be used for any purpose other than benefit payments. Under current projections, Social Security will continue taking in more money, including interest, than it pays out until 2025, when it begins running a deficit. By then, it will have reserves of $4.3 trillion (in 2025 dollars) to keep the system solvent until 2036. However, law requires the investment of surplus funds in special-issue government securities, which the government (read Congress) can spend in any manner it pleases. Eventually, it must pay this "loan" back with the interest incurred. This intemperate and unregulated spending by Congress will require the eventual pay back, which will drain the treasury and require our children and grandchildren to pay vastly higher taxes to cover the repayment.

Therefore, Social Security recipients are not causing the federal deficit as your writer indicated. Congress is mortgaging our children's future by its intemperate spending of the current surplus, instead of risking each member's re-election probability by raising taxes for this spending and answering for it.

These and many other facts concerning Social Security are easily obtainable. Your writer should have made the effort. ROBERT E. GRIBBEN BLACKSBURG

by CNB