By Thérèse Boudreaux | The Center Square
(Worthy News) – The U.S. Treasury says the national debt is roughly $39 trillion, but a nonpartisan accounting group estimates that the true number is $170.3 trillion.
Unlike the Treasury’s calculations, Truth in Accounting included all of the federal government’s unfunded obligations in its debt assessment, including unfunded promises like Social Security and Medicare benefits.
As of Sept. 30, 2025, the U.S. government had only $6.1 trillion on hand to pay for $176.3 trillion worth of incurred and promised liabilities, Truth in Accounting reports.
Within that number, projected Social Security benefits for all Americans who have entered the workforce amount to $54 trillion, total Medicare benefits will cost $74.5 trillion, and military and civilian retirement benefits will be $15.5 trillion.
Truth in Accounting based its analysis on the most recent federal audit of the U.S. government, which does not include the net $170.3 trillion in national debt calculations because it believes the public promises of future benefits are non-binding.
“The government does not believe that it owes anybody any Social Security or Medicare benefits beyond next month, because they believe that they can pull them back at any point in time,” Truth in Accounting founder and CEO Sheila Weinberg told The Center Square.
Weinberg referenced comments made by Stephen Goss, former chief actuary of the Social Security Administration, to the House Budget Committee in 2024.
“[Goss] said in a public hearing that the amount of Social Security that is being taken out of your paycheck is a pure and simple tax, and it doesn’t mean you’re going to get any Social Security benefits or Medicare benefits,” Weinberg noted.
“So again, if you believe the $39 trillion [debt number], then you believe that your Social Security and Medicare contributions are just taxes and the government doesn’t owe you anything for those.”
In practice, that means the federal government will have to tax people an additional $170 trillion over the next 75 years in order to fund those benefits.
Divided equally, that amounts to an extra $1.1 million per U.S. taxpayer, on top of the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes the government is already taking.
“What all these numbers represent is that the government has no idea where they’re going to get the money to pay these promises. They don’t have a plan,” Weinberg said. “They promised seniors $54 trillion of Social Security benefits, $74 trillion for Medicare, and they don’t have a plan on where they’re going to get that money; they don’t have a tax structure set up to pay it.”
She added that Congress also has a poor track record when it comes to expanding benefits without the means to fund them.
“It’s kind of like committing to an apartment, but the landlord’s not going to tell you the rent that you’re going to have,” Weinberg said. “And that’s what Congress does. They commit without even calculating how much they’re promising. And so then Social Security and Medicare expenditures just keep on going up and up.”
As of Oct. 2026, Social Security makes up about 22% of federal spending, while Medicare accounts for 15%.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Israel expanded its military campaign against Hezbollah on Monday, striking more than 70 targets across Lebanon as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to increase pressure on the Iranian-backed terror group following a sharp rise in drone and rocket attacks on northern Israel.
A federal appeals court is weighing whether Kansas City can use its public accommodation ordinance to require Christian counselors to counsel gay married couples despite the counselors’ biblical convictions on marriage and sexuality.
Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered in the Netherlands for one of Europe’s largest multi-day Christian events, with organizers and participants expressing hopes for spiritual revival in the nation and across Europe.
President Donald Trump pushed back Monday against sharp criticism from Republicans and former administration officials over a potential U.S.-Iran agreement, insisting that any final accord must prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon or it will not be signed.
President Donald Trump said Monday that countries involved in negotiations over Iran should be required to join the Abraham Accords, signaling that the White House is seeking to turn a possible Iran agreement into a wider regional realignment that includes normalization with Israel.
Tensions remained high in Serbia’s capital Belgrade on Sunday after at least tens of thousands of people demanded elections and rallied against what they view as the increasingly authoritarian rule of President Aleksandar Vučić, with violence erupting after the protest and more than 20 people arrested.
Investigations were ongoing Sunday into the killing of three senior Kuki-Thadou Christian church leaders by unidentified gunmen in India’s northeastern Manipur State, Christian investigators told Worthy News.