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The 31,000 people in the Charlottesville District area who get social security benefits have a renewed .promise from the Federal Government that those monthly checks will keep coming in the months and years ahead, Richard Israel, social security district manager, said today.
New legislation will provide additional income to assure the financial stability of the social security system well into the next century.
The added revenues will come from increases in both the social security tax rate and the “wage base”—the maximum earnings on which the social security taxes are collected in a year.
“Nobody likes to see taxes go up,” said Israel, “but the new revenues offer solid reassurance to the 34 million people in this country who are getting social security checks now. Their payments simply could not have continued beyond the next few years without additional income to the system.”
For the average worker, the tax increase will be relatively small over the next few years.
On wages of $10,000 a year, the social security tax bill will be $605 in 1978—only $20 more than the $585 payable on the same income in 1977. In 1979 and 1980, the social security tax on $10,000 in earnings will be $613. The tax burden will be heavier on those in higher wage brackets because more of their income will be taxable for social security.
In 1977, the maximum amount taxed for social security is $16,500. This wage base will go to $17,700 in 1978—as provided under previous law—with subsequent jumps to $22,900 in 1979, $25,900 in 1980, and $29,700 in 1981. After 1981, the base will rise automatically to keep pace with increases in average wages covered by social security. While the wage base increases mean a bigger tax bill for those workers in the higher income brackets, they also will mean higher social security benefits later since payment amounts are based on covered earnings. In addition to assuring the future financial stability of social security, the new law
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