1、Congressional Research Service The Library of CongressCRS Report for CongressReceived through the CRS WebOrder Code 94-28 EPWUpdated January 2, 2003Social Security and Medicare Taxes andPremiums: Fact SheetGeoffrey KollmannDomestic Social Policy DivisionTaxes: Financing for Social SecurityOld Age, S
2、urvivors, and Disability Insurance(OASDI)and the Hospital Insurance (HI) part of Medicare is provided primarily bytaxes levied on wages and net self-employment income. They are referred to as FICAtaxes (for Federal Insurance Contributions Act) and SECA taxes (for Self-EmploymentContributions Act). T
3、he FICA tax is paid by employees and employers; the SECA tax ispaid by the self-employed (about 96% of the work force is required to pay them). Bothhave three components: OASI, DI, and HI. The FICA tax was first levied in 1937 at arate of 1% (for both employee and employer) on earnings up to $3,000.
4、 The current rateis 7.65% 6.2% for OASDI, 1.45% for HI. The SECA rate for the self-employed is12.4% for OASDI, 2.9% for HI. The OASDI tax is levied on earnings up to $87,000 in2003 (earnings subject to the OASDI tax are indexed to increases in the national averagewage). The HI tax is levied on all e
