"Saving Social Security"

The Wall Street Journal has an interactive feature whereby you can choose how you would address the challenges of funding Social Security.  There are several options and you can see the impact of each option.  The Journal states that,

Social Security actuaries estimate that the current payroll tax of 12.4% (divided evenly between employers and employees) plus income taxes paid by beneficiaries will not raise enough money to fully cover all of the benefits that have been promised over the next 75 years. Specifically, they put the gap at 2.22% of taxable earnings. Put another way, the payroll tax could be boosted by about 2.22 percentage points, or benefits could be cut by an equivalent amount, to close the gap.

(click on the graph to enlarge)  It is interesting to see what impact different options have.