Evening star., 1935-03-17
Security Legislation Amendments.

While other suggestions have been
made, two specific proposals for
amendment of the Ellenbogen unem-
ployment insurance bill should re-
ceive extraordinary consideration, as
they affect fundamental principles of
the measure proposed for the District.
One OF these is for participation by
the employe as we'll as the employer
In building up the unemployment
reserves. The other is to provide
in the bill some measure Of reward,
or tax credit, to the taX-paying en-
ployer who succeeds in stabilizing
employment under his direct control.
As drawn, the Ellenbogen bill places
q three per cent tax on the employers S
pay roll and the employer pays this
tax, without participation by the
employe. The theory is that the en-
ploye will contribute indirectly when
the tax is passed on to the consumer,
in the form of higher prices or de-
creased wages. Neither is desirable,
yet even the ardent proponents of
the plan take it for granted that such
will be the effect. 1t has been argued
that direct participation by the en-
ploye in the building up of unem-
ployment reserves would give him a
more or less proprietary interest in
the use Of such reserves; that the
employe could be counted upon to
assist in the prevention of "chiseling
tactics by fellow employees. and that
sharing the total tax as between
employe and employer on the sug-
gested basis of one per cent and
two per cent, respectively, would be
in keeping with the theory of the joint
responsibility in guarding against
some evils of unemployment.
Under the Ellenbogen bill the three
per cent tax is applied to all employ.
ers without attempted distinction
between those whose pay rolls are
steady and those whose pay rolls fuc-
tuate with seasonal and other changes
Nor Is any maximum placed on the
reserves to be accumulated by the
pay roll tax. The tax will last in
definitely.
Under the Wisconsin plan-the only
State which has an unemployment in
sursnce law--the employer who ac-
cumulates a reserve of SIS per EN-
ploye escapes further payment of the
tax until his reserve falls below that
amount. In the bill proposed last
year by Senator Wagner for the Dis
trict the same principle was followed,
except that the reserve reached 500
per employe before tax payments
ceased.
Certainly this principle is good
one, and should be contained in some
form in the District legislation. The
object of the bill is to stabilize en-
ployment, and there should be a di-
rect incentive for the employer who
makes a successful effort in that
direction. The most practical in
centive that could be offered would
lie in the possibility of tax reduction.
Hearings on the Ellenbogen bill
have been concluded. But the bill
should not be finally prepared for
report to the House until the national
legislation-which 1t is to supplement
lis enacted and out of the way.
Admitting that the District provides
the perfect laboratory for experiments
in social security, it is still imperative
that vivisection at the hands of the
experimenters, who are in no manner
responsible to the subjects-the local
taxpayers-should be as painless as
legislative science can make it. Local
legislation should not be more severe
in its demands than the still pending
national legislation contemplates. nor
more severe than the legislation which
the States are expected to decide
upon for themselves.