It's a LIE that you pay half of your Social Security and your employer pays the other half.

[Towlie]

The reality is that, through your work, you pay for all of your social security, all of your medicare tax, and all of the other expenses that your employer incurs as a result employing you, whether or not they appear as deductions on your paycheck, plus you provide a profit for your employer on top of all that.

This is obviously true because if it wasn't, your employer would be losing money by keeping you on the payroll and you wouldn't have your job. It's a deceptive claim that you pay half and your employer pays the other half, but, unfortunately, if you sample discussions about the subject around the Internet you'll see that a lot of people are fooled.

[Hestia]

1. No, not true, when employers seek to hire someone, they add their part into the wages, to see what

the final cost will be. At least, smart one's do.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

9. While one could argue....

The the cost of Social Security and other payroll taxes are costs that could be paid directly to employees were these taxes not in place -- and resulting in a higher hourly wage -- it simply does not follow that if these taxes were eliminated, employess would necessarily see an increase in salary.

[el_bryanto]

2. That's a bit conceptual to call it a lie

And certainly the employer can say "If it weren't for my vision and forsight I would have no need of workers, therefore all the work you do is really a tribute to my resourcefullness and managerial skills."

Employers need employees; presumably employees need employers.

Bryant

[EstimatedProphet]

27. Disagree

Employers need employees; presumably employees need employers.

Look at the 2 halves separately. If labor existed and capital didn't, most people could work for themselves. It wouldn't be as efficient probably, and we wouldn't be able to develop as high a standard of technology/gizmos/shiny objects as we have now, but most people could farm their own food. However, if capital existed and labor didn't, the system would crash immediately. What good is money if there is no one to pay with it, or no ability to labor? We've developed a big lie in this country that we owe everything to big business, but it is big business that owes everything to us. The big money assholes like to pretend they drive the economy, but they leech off of it in reality. Labor/capital is very much a predator/prey relationship, and in nature predators usually are a step behind prey.

They need us; we don't need them.

[el_bryanto]

31. Unless of course we don't want to go back and work on a farm

Or don't have the skills necessary to do so. I personally would last about 2 weeks as an agriculturalist.

Bryant

[EstimatedProphet]

33. Longer than a capitalist would last with no one doing his work

He'd last no time at all, and you could learn farming if you needed to, as could most people. No one can learn to live on money alone.

Capitalism needs labor, not the other way around.

[zipplewrath]

3. A bit of semantics

The reason the employer supposedly "pays" half is because you incurr no benefit from that money. i.e. it does not reflect on your total wages or compensation. You don't pay tax on it, it doesn't count against your income for SS calculations, it doesn't count towards your "gross unadjusted income" anywhere.

Your view is based upon an assumption that if the government wasn't taking it, that you would some how reap the benefits of it. That's marginally true. SOMEONE might, such as the additional employee that the company could hire. I'm dubious that anyone's actual income would rise if the they declared a tax holiday or something.

[old mark]

4. Labor/production/work pays for everything else, including the salesmen, the

HR office, the various levels of bosses and VP's and all the perks and bennies for everyone, plus profits for the corporation or owners.

mark

[glitch]

5. Except in extractive* industries (from which others benefit)

Nature pays a very heavy cost as well.

*metals, energy, timber, food, refining, etc.

[guitar man]

20. +1000

As my old die-hard Teamster Dad use to say to management "If we weren't out here driving these trucks day and night in every kind of weather you can imagine, NONE of you fat cats would even have a job!"

:hi:

[Bigmack]

23. My dad was a (large project) electrician...

and he said something similar.

How come our blue-collar fathers knew better than the fucking overpaid CEOs with degrees from big-league schools?

Oh....

And they knew better than the current crop of Obama advisors, too.

[guitar man]

34. My parents and grandparents

all went through the Great Depression. They saw firsthand what unchecked robber barons could and would do to this country given the chance. I'm afraid we might have to go through it all again before we finally "get it". :(

[Bitwit1234]

6. In the long run the employer pays it.

It is correct that these deductions are part of YOUR pay but the employer pays them. That is how they came up with the fact that a lot of auto workers made 60 or so dollars an hour.

[Hannah Bell]

24. no they don't, unless you're suggesting labor is free.

[Winterblues]

7. Not to even mention Worker's Comensation or Health Insurance

The Employer pays a lot of unseen costs that are benefits for the employee..If the employee had to pay taxes on those it would be considered part of their wages although unseen but still a part of taxable wages. The employer part of SS and Medicare fall in this catagory.

[TreasonousBastard]

10. Vacation, holiday, and sick pay, paid breaks and lunch hours...

funded pensions, matching payments for savings plans, employee discounts...

And, after all that, you gotta pay 'em. Makes you wonder why hire anyone at all? Oh, there's work to be done.

There are enough real problems between employers and employees already-- making up phony ones like the OP does makes no sense.

[peace13]

12. Don't forget liability insurance, omissions and errors,......

Property tax and insurance, the list goes on and on.

[Winterblues]

14. How does property tax benefit the employee?

Worker's Compensation is a Direct benefit that the employee does not claim nor even recognize. The employee does recognize Health Insurance as being a benefit and some even have to claim it on their taxes. The employer part of SS and Mediciare and Worker's Comp are not included in the employee's tax claims but are the only one to benefit from them..

[peace13]

29. Exactly how does the employer benefit from paying SS, Medicare and WC

for their employees? I pay Unemployment on my own wages but if I can't continue the business only the employees get the benefits. My original comments were pointed toward the hidden expenses of a small business that employees don't even know exist and tend to cut into the 'profit' the the employees make.

[AnArmyVeteran]

13. The corporation I used to work for paid a lot more to contract employees.

Contract employees made 2 - 2 1/2 times what regular employees make. A friend of mine does only contract work because his salary is up to three times higher than regular employees. He doesn't get any benefits like health insurance and the company doesn't have to pay all those other overhead costs so they can pay a lot more to contract workers. Even though they are paid so much more they still get to use all of the company's resources, like office space, computers, support staff, etc...

So all of the money 'paid' by the employer to regular workers for SS, workers compensation, etc... are actually paid by the employee. Regular employees definitely pay for every benefit they get and the company makes a profit off of every employee or that person would not be working for the company. I am speaking only about regular employees and not the ruling class of executives who are certainly overpaid for their actual contributions to a company. Getting to that level is like joining an exclusive club where performance or contributions to the company have nothing to do with their compensation. The average worker in a company not only pays for all of the benefits they receive, but they also pay for all of the compensation and benefits of their overpaid leaders as well. The company doesn't give them anything. The employees earn ALL of it.

[Hubert Flottz]

8. Lying well is a political must.

[peace13]

11. 'plus you provide a profit for your employer on top of all that'

Let me quit laughing here. Many employers are losing money. Many small business owners make less than their employees. You can say that you pay both halves of SS if you want. Sooth yourself. The only advantage to owning the business is knowing when the last pay check will come.

[LiberalAndProud]

15. I understand the sentiment, but consider this.

If Social Security and Medicare were abolished today, do you think you'd see the additional employer contribution in your next paycheck? I tend to think you would not.

[inenemyterritory]

16. So

he does not employ you and pays squat, to you, any taxes and SS.

Sorry, your statement is BS

[mainer]

17. I'm self-employed. I pay 100% of my own Social Security

as well as my own health insurance and disability insurance. I would love to have an employer pay half of all those things on my behalf.

[MilesColtrane]

21. Yep, only paying half of the 15.3% SE tax would be sweet!

[JVS]

22. That's no different than everyone else. Everyone pays the full amount.

It's just that bosses claim to be paying half, when they're paying it with the money the employer brings in.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

30. Don't your customers pay part of your tax and insurance bills too?

If you didn't have to pay those bills, would you try to get more work by cutting your prices somewhat?

[mainer]

32. My income pays for my tax and insurance bills.

And all my income comes from selling a product. So I also feed myself with what my customers pay me. That's what a business is all about.

How does cutting prices -- and therefore cutting one's income -- make it easier to pay your bills? (I have more customers than I can handle.)

[JNelson6563]

18. I'll be opening my own business in the new year.

My accountant tells me I will be matching my employees contribution to SS.

I will be providing jobs to my employees and will pay them as well as I can afford to but I will also have to consider the full cost of it all. Workmen's comp., SS taxes and everything else.

I don't have a problem with it but so many have no idea what an employer pays on an employee. Posts like yours don't help. Not all employers are the enemy as your post seems to be saying.

Julie

[Obamanaut]

19. I think I understand this. The employer half is included in the cost of

hiring me, that half being an amount he (the employer) is required to submit to whomever it is they submit it to.

If the employer were not required to submit an amount, whatever it is, he would probably NOT put it in my paycheck, but rather would keep it for himself.

But what I don't know is if the employer can claim any of those deductions as an expense of doing business. If so, then he still is not paying the full amount submitted in my name, but is in fact making a little extra by having me as an employee.

[Hannah Bell]

25. they can deduct the cost of ss.

[Cleita]

26. If your employer didn't have to match funds he

wouldn't give you the extra money any way. He will only pay you what he can get you for. Also, even if you did pay the whole enchilada, it's a very good deal. I know. I worked all my life and paid into FICA all that time. Today, as a senior citizen, I'm getting the benefits back I paid into at a time I need them most to survive. What do you want to do with your FICA deduction if you didn't have to pay into it? Buy more gadgets and toys? Then when you get too old to work, what will you do? Also, if you kept all that money your employer pays for you as part of your salary, you would pay taxes on it so you wouldn't come out ahead anyway. At least this way you get some benefits out of it.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

28. Agreed--the incidence of the total tax is unlikely to be equal. You pocket less for

your labor, while the employer pays more for your labor, because of the tax, The precise split between how much you give up and how much extra the employer pays depends on your willingness to work more hours for more money and your employers' willingness to offer more hours as the wage they must pay declines. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_wedge .