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Don't expect much growth in Social Security benefits next year. According to consumer price index data, Social Security and other adjusted benefit payments will probably stay pretty flat. With the Social Security Administration getting ready to announce the 2014 cost-of-living-adjustment on October 16th, the COLA looks like it will be in the vicinity of 1.7%. That would raise average monthly benefits of ,157 by just .70..To determine if a portion of the taxpayer's Social Security benefits are taxable, half of Social Security benefits are added to the adjusted gross income, plus any tax - exempt interest, and certain other tax - exempt income. "Few people today think of an adjusted gross income of as little as ,000 -,000 as 'substantial' income," Johnson says. To calculate the taxable portion of benefits, taxpayers can find a worksheet in IRS publication 915..Adjuvanted Flu Vaccine.However, because Democratic control of Congress is so narrow, especially in the Senate but also in the House, the chances of passing anything this year remain uncertain, at best. Democrats are divided in what they want to accomplish so coming up with a majority in the House has been a struggle. Without complete Democratic unity in the Senate nothing can pass there..Republican lawmakers are voicing deep skepticism about passing another round of ,200 rebate checks as they contemplate the next and possibly final stage of coronavirus relief legislation..Since 2000, COLAs have increased Social Security benefits a total of 53 percent, yet typical senior expenses grew almost twice as fast - 99.3 percent. Table illustrates ten of the fastest growing costs since 2000. Where no average prices are available, numeric values from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U are used. Table shows the fastest growing costs from January 2019 to January 2020..Calculating the COLA in this manner would remove more of the uncertainty in years of economic recession and high unemployment and it would reflect inflation two ways - the growth in average wages which determine the average benefit, as well as the growth in prices. The national average Social Security benefit tends to rise most years, because new people coming onto the rolls tend to have higher wages than people who retired ahead of them. Indexing using this method would still tend to ensure a small boost to benefits even in years when inflation is so low that no COLA is payable..After passing the so-called "cromnibus" late last week, Members of Congress returned to their home states and districts for the remainder of the year. They will return to Capitol Hill in January to begin the 114th Congress..It also depends on the willingness of the American people to get the vaccine shot. Right now, there seems to be a reluctance among people because of, among other things, the uncertainty about the safety of a vaccine that has been rushed to market. It is a special concern for seniors because they do not often respond as well to medicines, including vaccines, as younger people do.