Social Security column/Karyl Richson
Social Security announces 2.3 percent benefit increase for 2008
Monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 54 million Americans
will increase 2.3 percent in 2008, the Social Security Administration announced recently.
Social Secuirty and Supplemental Security Income benefits increase automatically each year based on
the rise in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical
Workers (CPI-W), from the third quarter of the prior year to the corresponding period of the current year. This
year's increase in the CPI-W was 2.3 percent.
The 2.3 percent Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLa) will begin with benefits that nearly 50 million Social
Security beneficiaries receive in January 2008. Increased payments to more than 7 million Supplemental
Security Income beneficiaries will begin on December 31.
Some other changes that take effect in January of each eyar are based on the increase in average wages.
Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable
maximum) will increase to $102,200 from $97,500. Of the estimated 164 million workers who will pay
Social Security taxes in 2008, nearly 12 million will pay higher taxes as a result of the increase in the
taxable maximum.
Information about Medicare changes for 2008 can be found at www.cms.hhs.gov.