After the federal government pays back the $2.8 trillion it has borrowed from Social Security, the program's actuaries project that it will run deficits every year. According to their intermediate projections, to cover these deficits would require increasing taxes and/or decreasing benefits by an average of $156,000 for everyone currently paying Social Security taxes. This measure approximates the method by which publicly traded companies are required by law to report the finances of their pension and retirement plans.