House Votes for Greater Disclosure of Payroll Taxes

July 26, 2000

Under legislation passed July 18 in the House of Representatives, a worker's W-2 tax form would include information on the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes paid on his behalf by his employer. Many workers do not realize that their full contributions to these entitlement programs include matching payments by their employers. Informing them of the full cost would better help them judge the relative costs and benefits of Social Security and Medicare.

Opponents of the legislation called it unnecessary, saying that the Social Security benefit statements being mailed to workers by the Social Security Administration include information on employers' contributions. It is worth noting, however, that the SSA benefit statements did not include employer contributions until the agency was mandated to do so by law.

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