I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4875
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to waive the employee portion
of Social Security taxes imposed on individuals who have been diagnosed
as having cancer or a terminal disease.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 5, 2002
Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to waive
the employee portion of Social Security taxes imposed
on individuals who have been diagnosed as having cancer
or a terminal disease.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cancer and Terminal
Illness Patient Health Care Act of 2002’’.
SEC. 2. WAIVER OF EMPLOYEE PORTION OF SOCIAL SECU-
RITY TAXES ON INDIVIDUALS DIAGNOSED AS
HAVING CANCER OR A TERMINAL DISEASE.
(a) EMPLOYEES.—Section 3101 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (relating to tax on employees) is
amended by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(d) EXCEPTION FOR EMPLOYEES WITH CANCER OR
TERMINAL DISEASE.—No tax shall be imposed by this
section on wages paid to an individual for any period for
whom a certification by a physician (as defined in section
1861(r)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
1395x(r)(1)) is in effect stating that—
‘‘(1) the individual has a terminal disease, or
‘‘(2) the individual has cancer and whether or
not such cancer is in remission.
The preceding sentence shall apply in the case of a certifi-
cation that an individual’s cancer is in remission only dur-
ing the period that the individual certifies to the employer
that the individual is incurring significant costs (not reim-
bursed by insurance or otherwise) by reason of such can-
cer.’’
(b) COMPARABLE TREATMENT FOR SELF-EMPLOYED
INDIVIDUALS.—Section 1401 of such Code is amended by
adding at the end the following new subsection:
‘‘(d) REDUCTION IN TAX FOR SELF-EMPLOYED INDI-
VIDUALS WITH CANCER OR TERMINAL DISEASE.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each of the rates of tax
under subsections (a) and (b) shall be reduced by 50
percent in the case of an individual for whom a cer-
tification by a physician (as defined in section
1861(r)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
1395x(r)(1)) is in effect throughout the taxable year
stating that—
‘‘(A) the individual has a terminal disease,
or
‘‘(B) the individual has cancer and whether
or not such cancer is in remission.
The preceding sentence shall apply in the case of a
certification that an individual’s cancer is in remis-
sion only during the period that the individual is in-
curring significant costs (not reimbursed by insur-
ance or otherwise) by reason of such cancer.
‘‘(2) SPECIAL
RULE
WHERE
CERTIFICATE
IN
EFFECT FOR ONLY PORTION OF YEAR.—If the cer-
tification referred to in paragraph (1) is in effect for
only a portion of the taxable year, paragraph (1)
shall be applied by substituting for ‘50 percent’ the
number of percentage points which bears the same
ratio to 50 as such portion bears to the entire tax-
able year.’’
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by
this section shall apply to periods after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(d) NO IMPACT ON SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND
DEPOSITS OR BENEFITS.—Nothing in the amendments
made by this section shall be construed to affect the
amount of deposits into any trust fund under the Social
Security Act or the amount of benefits payable under such
Act.
Æ