I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1316

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce employer and

employee Social Security taxes to the extent there is a Federal budget surplus.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 25, 1999

Mr. DREIER (for himself and Mr. JEFFERSON) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to reduce

employer and employee Social Security taxes to the extent there is a Federal budget surplus.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Working Americans

5 Gainful Employment (WAGE) Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FEDERAL BUDGET SURPLUSES DEDICATED TO RE2 DUCTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3101 of the Internal Rev4 enue Code of 1986 (relating to tax on employees under

5 Federal Insurance Contributions Act) is amended by add6 ing at the end the following new subsection:

7 ‘‘(d) FEDERAL BUDGET SURPLUSES TO REDUCE SO8 CIAL SECURITY TAXES.—

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than December

10 15 of 1999, and each subsequent calendar year, the

11 Secretary shall prescribe a rate for the social secu12 rity retirement taxes which shall apply in lieu of the

13 otherwise applicable rate to remuneration received in

14 the succeeding calendar year.

15 ‘‘(2) METHOD OF DETERMINING RATE.—

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The rate determined

17 under this paragraph for any calendar year

18 shall be the rate estimated by the Secretary to

19 reduce revenues to the United States during

20 such year in an amount equal to the Federal

21 budget surplus for the fiscal year ending during

22 the preceding calendar year. Proper adjust23 ments shall be made in subsequent such esti24 mates to the extent prior estimates were in ex25 cess of or less than the actual revenue reduc26 tions.
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1 ‘‘(B) FEDERAL BUDGET SURPLUS.—For

2 purposes of subparagraph (A), the term ‘Fed3 eral budget surplus’ means, with respect to any

4 fiscal year, the amount by which total Federal

5 revenues for such fiscal year exceed total Fed6 eral budget outlays for such year. For purposes

7 of the preceding sentence—

8 ‘‘(i) revenues from social security re9 tirement taxes and the tax imposed by sec10 tion 1401(a) shall be included in total rev11 enues, and

12 ‘‘(ii) disbursements from any trust

13 fund or account which are social security

14 benefits (as defined in section 86(d)) shall

15 be included in total Federal budget out16 lays.

17 ‘‘(3) SOCIAL SECURITY RETIREMENT TAXES.—

18 For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘social se19 curity retirement taxes’ means the taxes imposed

20 by—

21 ‘‘(A) section 3101(a) (relating to OASDI

22 tax on employees),

23 ‘‘(B) section 3111(a) (relating to OASDI

24 tax on employers), and
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1 ‘‘(C) sections 3201(a), 3211(a)(1), and

2 3221(a) (relating to tier 1 railroad retirement

3 taxes) to the extent attributable to the rate ap4 plicable under section 3101(a) or 3111(a).

5 ‘‘(4) TAX ON SELF-EMPLOYMENT INCOME.—If

6 the Secretary prescribes a rate under paragraph (1)

7 which applies to remuneration received in any cal8 endar year, the rate applicable under section

9 1401(a) for taxable years beginning in such calendar

10 year shall be equal to twice the rate so prescribed

11 for such calendar year.

12 ‘‘(5) DEPOSITS INTO SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST

13 FUNDS, ETC. UNAFFECTED.—The determination of

14 the amounts deposited into any trust fund or ac15 count shall be made without regard to the rates de16 termined under this subsection.’’

17 (b) CROSS REFERENCES.—

18 (1) Subsection (a) of section 1401 of such Code

19 is amended by adding at the end the following flush

20 sentence:

21 ‘‘For potential reduction in the rate under this subsection,

22 see section 3101(d).’’

23 (2) Subsection (a) of section 3111 of such Code

24 is amended by adding at the end the following flush

25 sentence:
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1 ‘‘For potential reduction in the rate under this subsection,

2 see section 3101(d).’’

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

4 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment

5 of this Act.

6 SEC. 2. TREATMENT UNDER PAY-AS-YOU-GO PROCEDURES.

7 Any change in budget authority, outlays, or receipts

8 resulting from the provisions of (or amendments made by)

9 this Act shall not be considered for purposes of calculating

10 the deficit increase for any year under section 252 of the

11 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of

12 1985.

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