In 2016, the U.S. Postal Service was legally required to pay $13 billion to fund retiree health and pension benefits. What portion of this did it actually pay?
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The Postal Service paid $7 billion of this $13 billion obligation, or 54% of it. Per a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, "Large unfunded liabilities for postal retiree health and pension benefits - which were $73.4 billion at the end of fiscal year 2016 - may ultimately place taxpayers, USPS employees, retirees and their beneficiaries, and USPS itself at risk. As GAO has previously reported, funded benefits protect the future viability of an enterprise such as USPS by not saddling it with bills after employees have retired."
DocumentationGAO Report
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