The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1937-09-17
Questions And Answers
WHAT'S WHAT ABOUT SOCIAL
SECURITY

O. 40 Can a farmer receive old
age benefits? If so, to whom would
he pay taxes? l am So years of age.
A. 40 The Obligations and bene-
fits under the Social Security Act
are not optional. Agricultural labor is
specifically excepted under the Act.
Farmers and farm workers, however,
come under the act when they en-
gage in any other employment which
is not specifically excepted under
Title VIII of the Social Security Act.
For example, canning, public road
building, numbering, employment in
the tobacco markets and such things
are not excepted agricultural labor
within the meaning of the law, ac-
cording to rulings made by the Bur-
eau of Internal Revenue which is
charged with administering the tax
provisions of the Social Security Act.
Employers, as such, may not, pay
taxes on themselves and receive a
benefit. A man might ordinarily be
an employer but might also be an
employee if he worked for someone
else. AS an employee, engaged in a
covered employment, he would be
eligible to qualify for benefits. AS
long as you engage in purely farm
work you can not come under the
old-age benefits provisions of the Act.
AS farmer and as an employer,
however, you benefit from the bene-
fits provisions of the act inasmuch
as it is obvious that the amounts
paid employees in old-age benefits,
and in unemployment compensation
will be expended principally for food
grown by the farmer and the genuine
necessities of life. Study shows there
is a very real and definite relation
ship between the economic welfare
of the industrial workers and the in
como of the farmer.
@. SO Suppose l die shortly after
| reach IS years of age and begin to
draw monthly old-age benefits checks
under the Social Security Act? What
will happen then?
A. SO Your monthly benefits
check will be sent you as long as you
live after you reach IS and otherwise
qualify under the law. The amount
of the monthly check will depend
ON the total amount of wages you
have earned. If, when you die, the
total of your monthly benefits has
not amounted to 3 " percent of the
total wages you have earned in COW
cred employment, after December
81, 1896, and prior to reaching So,
up to $4,000 year from any one
employer, your estate will be paid
the difference between the total
benefits which were paid before you
died and 311b percent of your total
covered wages. The amount to your
estate would be made in one final
lump-sum payment.
@. 81 l have just married My
wife worked before we were married
and had an account number and paid
taxes ON her salary. She does not
work now and possibly will not work
any more. Can she get any money
under the Social Security Act for the
time she has already worked?
A. 81 The wages she has earned
will stand to her credit until she
reaches SIS. If she should earn more
wages between this date and the
time she reaches IS, these, likewise,
will be credited to her account. She
will not draw monthly benefits, how
ever, until she reaches 65. Should
she die before she is SIS a lump-sum
payment equal to II percent of her
wages earned since December 81,
1886, in employment not specifically
excepted under Title VIII of the Soc
ial Security Act, will be made her
estate.