The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-05-11

social security bill reaches the flool
Of the Senate, Fair Deal Senators
will try TO repair some Of the dam
age done by the Senate Finance
committee. The bill, whipped into
shape in the week ending May 5, ir
many ways does not do as good Z
job Of bringing the old age and sur.
yivors' insurance system up to dat'
as was done by the House last
October. The Senate committee
used the House bill as its base, but
made many changes.
Only major improvement over
the House bill Is a slight increase
in the average benefits paid to a
retired worker. The average in.
crease would be 80 per cent, com
pared with 10 per cent in the House
bill. However, the Senate would
further tip the balance in favoE of
low Income workers, paying $31 a
month to those who presently get
SIS, but S72 to those whose pay
before retirement now entities them
to $45. This is 10 per cent boost
for the worker who before retiring
was in the lowest-paid brackets,
and a 60 per cent boost for a re-
tired worker who earned $3.50 a
month or. over.
Balanced against the benefit rise,
the Senate committees bill shows
the strong conservative bent of the
committee members, in c ! u d n g
Chairman Walter George ID, Ga.)
and ranking minority member Eu-
gene Millikin (R, Colo.) The bill
goes a long way toward "pay as
you go" pension system, opposed by
the unions because it can so easily
become a political tool. The "pay
as you go" idea is to try to fix the
benefits and the tax rates SO that
the current generation of workers
would be paying taxes enough to
cover benefits for workers retired
at present. The unions, and most
social insurance experts outside of
industry, want those now working
to pay taxes sufficient to cover
their own pensions when they retire
five, ten, or twenty years from
now, The insurance-fund principle,
they insist, is the only way to keep
the pension fund from being mani
pulated by politicians. "Pay-as-you-
go" means lower tax rates now, but
it also will mean a sharp boost in
rates or in payments to make up
the deficit out of the federal trea-
sury when the increasingly large
numbers of men and women in the
1940-1950 labor force reach 90.
And as the number of workers en-
ployed in industry grows, and more
people live past the age of 65, the
burden on future generations of
taxpayers to pay for retired work
ers win also grow.
The Senate committee voted, tol
keep the payroll tax ON employees
and employers at the present 1a
per cent rate until 1866, instead Of
raising it another half of one per
cent in 1861 as proposed by the
House. This would mean, commit
tee experts say, that income and
will be just about even
in 1866, which is what the pay as
you go", advocates would like. From
then en- of course, it would require
an increase in tax rates even to
.the $40 average pension,
which is fonly half of the lowest
figure which any union considers
N. any, way adequate. /
!, The wage base 'on which taxes
ire paid and benefitss calculated is
tept at $4,000, as urged by. the
4at1 Assn of Manufacturers and
he insurance companies, The
House bill set $4,000 wage base,
md the unions had urged $4,000
o $4,000 base. Effect Of the present
5000 base is to set top pension
;ate which gives no credit for any
over $4,000 year, and al
most half of the present industrial
workers in the country will thus
lot get credit for all their payI
when their pensions are calculated.
The House-approved proposal toI,
reat workers who become totally
md permanently disabled the same
IS retired workers was eliminated .
The American Medical
Association had joined the insur-
nee companies to fight this plan.
President Truman and the Social
security Administrator had asked
or two programs: one for those ,
emporarily disabled who need help
n getting back on their feet, and
for their families mean-
While; and the other for those who
viii never be able to work again. :
he latter plan was approved byIt
he House, on the argument that z
most permanently disabled workers
nd up on the relief rolls eventu- !
lily, because few workers can save
nough or afford private insurance.
0 cover such catastrophe.
AS had been announced earlier,
he Senate bill extends coverage to
bout seven million men and wo-
len not now included, and would n
low another one and half mill n
IN state and local government em- n