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Show VASHINGTON &A 1 I and SMALL ifcsEi business iaiilill I Emptayme&ii Insecurity I With wage-price-rent controls con-trols in effect, it's just a bit rankling for the millions of wage-earners who will pay higher Social Security taxes this year, especially if their wages are "frozen." Those earning earn-ing $7,800 or more who paid $405.60 last year will find up to $468 withheld this year. Taxes were not made subject to the economic restraints. Now, higher Social Security taxes drive that point home. Everyone has felt there is no limit no ceiling on how high taxes may go. Now, with economic eco-nomic controls, it's down in writing: taxes are not to be restrained. re-strained. Congress has two ways of increasing in-creasing Social Security tax. Luckily, only one way was applied ap-plied for 1972. The tax rate (now 5.2) isn't changing, but the amount subject to tax is. It's ironic. While wage increases in-creases are limited, Social Security Se-curity takes 15 per cent more from those earning $9,000 or more. It's ironic, because higher and higher taxes have been a leading factor in inflation. Few in government, especially few legislators, seem to realize this. Higher taxes are added costs to the businessman, which must be offset by higher prices; or they cut take home pay, which leads to higher wage demands. Social Security is a double- Nltlooil Fedenllon of Independent Busines barrelled tax. It takes equally from the employee (through payroll deduction) and from the employer, who pays an equal amount for each worker. So every increase is a double-lever double-lever on inflation. Yet Congress has increased the tax 8 times in the last 10 years, from a m aximum of $2C!3 per employee, yielding under $12 billion in 1961, to a maximum maxi-mum of $933 per employee, expected ex-pected to bring $15 billion into the Treasury. Talk about inflation! infla-tion! Social Security is a tax on jobs. It may provide some measure mea-sure of security for the elderly, the disabled, widows, etc., but it has created insecurity in employment. Employers have, for some time, felt that it has overtaxed American labor and business, and some of today's unemployment may be a direct cause. Yet no end is in sight. In 1969, Congress voted an ultimate ulti-mate tax peak of $920 per employee em-ployee per year to take effect in 1987. But it's already that high, and legislation to raise it to $1,500 per employee by 1977 passed the House of Representatives Represen-tatives last year. The Senate hasn't passed it . . . yet. Ironic, that while an economic econ-omic controls program tries to bridle inflation, Congress blithely continues to an infla-tionistic infla-tionistic tax policy. iS |