Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-12-20
SECURITY FOR YOU
Here'sWhut
Happens to
Your Money
BY RAY HENRY

Where does the money goi
That's q question readers raise
daily regarding the Social Sc
curity tax they pay.
One reader said he'd heard eol
many stories about where his
money was that he was com
Ipletely confused"
How about giving me the real
story-right from the moment
my boss takes the tax out Of my
wages?"
Since that's the best way to
give 1t. here goes:
After your boss withhold the
tax from your pay. he matches
the amount. Then. every three
months he must mail q check for
the combined amount to the
nearest Internal Revenue Service
of1ice.
Pay II Yourself
II you work for yourself, you
pay the full tax yourself and
send 1t 70 the nearest Internal
Revenue Service ct income taxi
time.
In turn. the ms reports itsI
collections to the Social Security
Administration. The Social Sc
curtiy people note on your Social
Security record in Baltimore that
you've paid the tax. Based on this
record. payments are made to you
when you're disabled or retired
or to your survivors when you die
The money the IRIS collects
from you and your boss Is put
in Q special Government fund
controlled by q board Of trustees.
The board members are the Sec
Rotary Of the Treasury, Secretary
OF Labor and Secretary Of Health,
Education and Welfare.
The money IN this fund-for-
mally called the Federal Old-ARe
and Survivors Insurance Trust
Fund"-is kept separate from ali
other accounts In the United
States Treasury. Thus, for ex-I
ample. your Social Security tax
money doesn't get mixed UP with
the tax you paid on your last
beer or movie.
The money can be spent In
two ways only: To make social
security benefit payments and to
pay the cost Of running the So
cial security system.
The money that's left over
after these items have been
taken care Of is invested in Gov-
eminent securities, in much the
same way that you might buy
savings bonds. The Government
pays interest on these securities,
just as 1t pays interest on your
savings bonds.
Here's What Happened
To give you an idea Of how
this works. here's what happened
to the money which you, your
boss and millions Of others put
into the fund between July /,
1855. and June 80, 1856:
The Internal Revenue Service
collected $6.447.757.000 In social
security tax.
OF this amount, $5,360,Sl3, 900
was paid out BY the social secur-
ity people in benefits to widows.
retired workers, children Of de-
ceased workers. retired women,
wives Of workers and parents Of
workers.
Another S124,33o,0 900 was paid
out to run the social security
system.
That left $685., sos, 900 in the
fund. This was added to money
left over from earlier years.
There has been money left over
each year since the social Sc
curity set-up got underway in
1887.
The total accumulation is now
more than $22 billion, which
except for about half q billion
cash on hand-has been invested
in Government securities.
The interest on the securities
last year was $494, S89 and was
added to the trust fund.
(You may write to Ray Henry,
in care Of The Star, about your
own social security or retirement
problem, Please enclose a
stamped. self-addressed envelope
and IS cents In coin.
prom Associated Press Newsfsaturss)
The next Security for You column will