Evening star., 1936-11-30
Government Checks.

LAC SSSAoA SSSuAAVy ASOoAAt Al Aoc PASo-
pectus sent out to industrial and busi-
ness employees all over the country, an
nounces that from the time you are
65 years old, or more, and stop working,
you will get Government check every
month of your life" 1t has an alluring
sound. The board is preparing the
25.0O0,000 or more workers covered by
the social insurance act for the opera
ton of the new law, with its pay roll
tax and its tax upon employers. You
may get Government check. 1t Is
very much the same, however, as draw
ing your own check upon bank in
which you have deposited money over
a long period of time. In other words,
this is no Government largess. It is
money paid to the workers out Of COM
pulsory savings of their own plus COM
pulsory contributions made by their
employers.
Old-age pensions are not new In
this country, except that this is the first
compulsory PAdli, oaNC al IllC CdSC VI Vic
comparatively few employees of the Gov
ernment. Workers have paid out of
their earnings for annuities, for insur-
ance of various kinds, or they have
amassed their own savings for their later
years, holding them in banks or prop
erty of one kind or another. Now the
&c koly 10
make the workers save for their old age,
and to make the employers contribute
to the old-age pension fund. The Social
Security Board frankly says in the final
part OF its prospectus that the workers
and their employers are to pay Federal
tax. Your part will be taken out of
your pay" the board points out The
tax will operate as perpetual pay cut,
beginning at one per cent and finally
reaching three per cent. The employer
must put up similar amount in taxa
tion to establish the old-age pension
fund.
The so-called Government checks
which are to go to the workers when
they have reached the age of IS years
will be graded according to the wages
the worker has received and according
to the length of time he has been at
work, under the new law. If the worker
is young enough when the system starts,
on January 1, to work for forty years
before retirement, and he receives S25
week for 50 weeks in year, the Gov
ernment check at age IS and thereafter
will be $53 month. If the worker
makes as much as $50 a week over that
period Of time, his Government check
will be $7450 a month. If the worker is
SIS years old now and has only ten years
to reach pension age, and makes SIS a
week, his Government check will be Sl9
a month; If he makes $25 a week, his
check will be s23 month.
There are many details in connection
with this old-age pension plan. When
all is said and done, however, 1t Is found
to be compulsory saving plan, with q
dodge. 1t is simply taken out Of his
pay before he receives the pay. It's sup
porters insist that the social security
law is an admirable thing; that 1t will
solve many difficulties. 1t may. The
proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Any idea, however, that the Govern
ment is giving the worker something
for nothing; that the payments are
Government checks" is incorrect. The
Government does make the collections
and the payments; it does compel the
savings. Beyond that the burden falls
upon the workers and their employers.
The Government checks going out to
the pensioners will be like other Gov
ernment checks. They will be met by
money raised from the people by
taxation.