B. CHANGES IN LAW AND POLICY AFFECTING SOCIAL SECURITY SINCE THE 2025 REPORT Since the Trustees submitted the 2025 report to Congress, there have been two changes in law, policy, or regulation that are expected to have significant financial effects on the OASDI program. On December 31, 2024, the Social Security Administration (SSA) published a final rule in the Federal Register titled Use of Electronic Payroll Data To Improve Program Administration; SSA’s implementation plan was not completed in time to include an estimate of its effect in last year’s report. This regulation prescribes procedures for automating the exchange of wage data with third-party payroll data providers for the purpose of administering Social Security disability benefits. Implementation of this final rule is expected to increase the number of disability beneficiaries with identified wages and to identify wages sooner than under SSA’s prior processes. In turn, these factors will increase recovery termination rates, lower the number of disability beneficiaries in current-payment status, and reduce benefit overpayments. This regulation has a small but positive effect on the DI Trust Fund over the short-range projection period and a negligible effect over the long-range projection period. On July 4, 2025, the President signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law. Among many other provisions, this law makes permanent the lower ordinary income tax rates and adjusted tax brackets originally enacted under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and both increases and makes permanent the larger standard deduction of the 2017 Act. The OBBBA also adds a temporary additional standard deduction for taxpayers over age 65. Overall, the OBBBA effectively reduces taxable income for many Social Security beneficiaries. As a result, less income tax will be paid on Social Security benefits, and the OASI and DI Trust Funds will receive lower levels of revenue in the future from income taxation of Social Security benefits. Enactment of this law is estimated to have a negative financial effect on the trust funds over both the short-range and long-range projection periods. Sections IV.A.4 and IV.B.6 of this report provide further description of the magnitude of effects on the financial status of the OASDI program over the short-range and long-range projection periods, respectively.
