Evening star., 1953-11-01
By Robert K. Welsh

posed to be paid by household
workers and their employers has
been less of q headache than
Government officials expected
but its troubles may be starting
now.
The tax is due to go to per
cent from 3 January /. Thus it
will be involved in congress
sional fight over proposals to
freeze social security rates at
present levels.
| The tax has been challenged
upSucceSsfully in lower Federal
courts. The Supreme Court
probably will be asked soon to
review a test case contending
that the levy violates constitu-
tional rights.
Although collected without
great fuss during the last three
years, it seems likely to be en-
forced more strictly by next
year by the Internal Revenue
Service and the Social Security
Administration.
Collections Successful.
Those agencies report that
payment and collection of the
tax have caused far fewer ills
and inconvenience than it's
severer critics predicted. They
declare it has been administered
with reasonable effectiveness.
They concede some leniency to
date but explain that this has
gone to the point of failure to
follow up on known delinquents.
Authorities do not pretend that
compliance has been wholly sat-
isfactory. They nevertheless
note that the tax is being paid
and collected more easily and to
a proportionately greater extent
than were social security taxes at
the outset of the general pro-
gram in the late 1905.
They expect that the social Sc
curity tax relating to maids,
cooks, chauffeurs, laundresses.
janitors, practical nurses, baby
sitters and many others whose
hours and wages bring them and
their employers within this tax
requirement, eventually will be
"self policing" They are sure
the tax will prove more popular
as time goes on and household
employees realize the benefits of
being in the system.
Opposition Limited.
Moreover, congressional and
administrative experts on social
security find no evidence of any
large or organized effort to have
Congress abolish the tax. They
indicate they are confident that
neither Congress nor the Eisen-
hover administration plan such
a move, even though several sub
Stantial revisions in the social
security system may be voted at
the coming session.
After all these answers the
revenue and social security Off
cials still ask themselves some
questions. One is whether the
quarterly returns show the real
picture of household employment
subject to the tax. Another is
whether carelessness, ignorance
of the law, or outright refusal is
the main reason why many peo-
pie apparently do not obey this
law.
In the Washington Baltimore
area, 24,048 returns were filed
by employers using the envelope
form 942 for the quarter ending
last August 81. Payments ac-
companying that type of return
amounted to about $4,000.
Another group of housewives,
possibly more than $4,000,
Jumped such social security tax
payments in the withholding tax
forms their husbands filed for
Office and 5imilar employees for
income tax purposes.
100000 Returns Filed.
Nationally, about 100000 re-
turns are filed each quarter by
employers who, pay wages total
ing $50 or more to household
employees who work "a days or
more during the quarter.
Among additional worries fac
ing tax handlers is the difficulty
of determining precisely. quickly
and comprehensively the number
of employees covered. employers
who pay the employees 112 per
cent share as well as their own
1h per cent, and at least an
approximate number of people
who ought to pay but do not.
Practically all of that material
is in the records. Because of the
dual agency responsibility and
other highly technical admins
trative methods it could be found
only after a major file-searching.
Government officials, however,
feel that the 100000 national
figure and the total for the
Washington Baltimore district,
on the quarterly basis, are not as
small as they seem. There have
been informal estimates that the
number of quarterly returns ma
tionally should be about 100000.
There is no available estimate.
informal or otherwise, to indi-