Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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The Newberry Sun, Newberry, S. C., Thursday, Dec. 7, 1967—PAGE 7 senator! ■STRO HURMOND Reports PEOPLE GUARANTEED SECURITY The Social Security benefit increases authorized in the bill which recently passed the Sen ate threatens to put the future soundness of the Social Secur ity system in grave doubt. It is a matter of record that I have always favored a strong Social Security system. There fore, in all honesty, I had to vote against unreasonable increases in benefits that will burden both the system’s solvency and the taxpayer’s ability to pay. My principal concern is that those who are paying the bills for Social Security today will find a workable, solvent sys tem when it is their turn to re ceive benefits. We are locked into an infla tionary spiral which is especial ly hard on the retired, living on fixed incomes. A companion bill which passed the House of Rep resentatives proposed significant increases in order to adjust benefits to the increased costs of living. I supported the level of increases which passed the House. IRRESPONSIBLE BURDENS However, the Senate propos als placed irresponsible burdens upon both system and taxpayer. A comparison of the tax rates shows why: The present system taxes all income up to the first $6,600 according to a rate which is scheduled to go up in steps every year until it reach es a level of 5.65 percent in 1987. The House version steps up the increase in taxes to 5.9 percent in 1987, but sets the taxable base $1000 higher at $7,600. The Senate version keeps a similar scale of increasing rates, but jumps the taxable base to $8,000 in 1968. 3,800 in 1969, and $10,800 in (2. The effect of raising the tax able base means that the strug gling taxpayer will find striking increases in the size of the chunk taken out of his pay check. Under the existing set up, the maximum employee tax will be reached in 1987 amounts to $372.90 annually. The House Increase will raise that amount to $448.40 by 1987. However, the Senate bill proposes to take $626.40 out of the taxpayer’s pocket every year by 1980. Moreover, it must be remem bered that every dollar paid by the worker is matched by an equal dollar paid by the em ployer. This unseen contribu tion is nevertheless a tax against the earning capacity of each job. Whether paid by em ployer or employee, the cost to the nation’s economy is the same. By 1980, the Senate bill would be levying a total tax of nearly 12 percent against pro duction ranging between $348 for a job earning $3,000 a year to $1,251.80 for jobs of $10,800 or over, with half paid by the worker and half by the em ployer. Such burdens, of course, are in addition to the personal in come tax which must be paid by each worker. It is clear that we have reached the saturation point with the Social Security payroll tax. If benefits- are to be increased further, the sys tem will have to be financed out of general tax revenues. Such a move would change the self-financing character of the system entirely. Once this is done, there would be no limit to the demands for in creased benefits, and the sys tem would be out of control. FUTURE SOLVENCY In studying the future sol vency of Social Security, it must be remembered that the system provides no legal guar antee of benefits. It depends for its solvency upon the ever-in creasing enrollment of new con tributors. As long as more workers keep entering the sys tem than become eligible for benefits, then Social Security will have enough cash on hand to pay its obligations. In 1940, the system had enough cash to pay benefits for 49 years; today it has less than enough for 12 months. Income and outgo almost march through the same revolving door. If a serious recession were to hit this country, throw ing many people out of work and off payrolls, the backlog of cash would quickly disappear. The increase in tax payments would hit hardest at young people and middle-income groups, those struggling to get started in life and make ends meet. Today’s benefits for the retired are paid by today’s workers, many of whom will never be eligible to receive benefits themselves. The natural desire to make life secure for our older citi zens is shared by everyone in America. However, the burden 3f payments must never be allowed to become so great as to tempt taxpayers caught in an economic squeeze into open rebellion. Realistic programs for adjusting benefits will help to keep retired citizens secure in the knowledge that, as long as they remain eligible, the benefit checks will keep coming. Miss Mayer, 76, died Wednesday Miss Aurelia Mayer, 76, died Wednesday afternoon at the Newberry County Memorial hospital after several weeks of serious illness. Miss Mayer was born and reared in old Lexington county and was the daughter of the late Henry Michael and Laura Dominick Mayer. She was a member of Lutheran Church of The Redeemer, and of the re tired teachers’ association. Miss Mayer taught for a num ber of years in several South Carolina counties. Miss Mayer is survived by one sister, Mrs. Lula Monts, Silverstreet; three brothers, Oscar Mayer of Newberry, J. M. M.ayer of Atlanta, Ga, and A. M. Mayer of Clearwater, Florida. Funeral services were held Thursday from her church with Dr. H. A. McCullough conduct ing the service Burial was in Rosemont cemetery. New recreation area planned for Pee Dee COLUMBIA. — Plans for a major lake and recreation de velopment to serve more than 100,000 people in the Lake City and Pee Dee area have been endorsed by the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Com mission. Dr. Jams P. Truluck, chair man of the Greater Lake City Recreational Commission, ap peared before the Parks, Rec reation and Tourism Commis sion and presented plans for the development, which would include the 8th largest lake in South Carolina. Total cost of the project is estimated at $1,782,000. The commission appointed a committee composed of Bob Hickman, director of the De partment of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, John A. May, director of Outdoor Recreation and E. A. (Ned) Ramsaur, commission member; to work with Dr .Truluck and the Lake City commission in seeking support for federal fund as sistance in the project. A total of 1,123 acres is nvolved in the project, in cluding the 655-acre lake. The lake would embrace a swamp and blighted area and would extend from a point within Lake City for a distance of 3.5 miles east of the city, where a dam would be erected. Plans also call for an extensive flor al water island development at the upper end of the lake. The plans include six public recreation areas with boat launching sites, and facilities for picnics, swimming and oth er outdoor activities. The Commission was told the lake would also provide boat ing, fishing, flood control, an emergency city water supply and would be a center of tour ism for the Pee Dee. Dr. Truluck estimated the project could be completed in three years if funds are ap proved at an early date. The estimated cost of the project includes $733,000 for land ac quisition and $1,049,000 for development. Social Security Information Reporting the earnings of household help for social sec urity purposes continues to be an area of wide* misunderstand ing, according to Miss Martha Pressly, District Manager for Social Security at Greenwood. Miss Pressly emphasized that the law is very specific on this matter. The earnings of a per son working in or around a private home must be reported if they amount to at least $50 cash in a three-month calendar quarter. This is not a matter of choice for either the worker or the employer. A report of the earnings and the tax must be turned in to Internal Reve nue Service at the end of the quarter. Failure to report can be cost ly and embarrassing, said Miss Pressly. In a recent case, a maid had worked for a lady for several years without her ' i amings being reported. When the maid came in this year to file for social security bene fits, the error was discovered. The employer was required to pay back taxes over several years plus penalty and interest charges for reporting late “This amounted to a sizeable sum of money all at one time,” M.iss Pressly said.“If the earn ings had been reported timely and spread out over several years, the amount would have been insignificant.” Many people do not realize that part-time household work is covered by social security. “The cleaning woman who comes in one day a week and makes as little as $5 a day will have earned over $50 by the end of a quarter,” Miss Pressly said. “These part-time wages must be reported.” For more information on household workers, how to re port and how to get the report forms, call or write the Social Security Administration, 219 Magnolia Avenue in Greenwood —the telephone is OR 3-1711. Scout Promotions Troop 66: Hobson Busby and David Dickert, First Class; Foster Busby, Life; Leslie Hipp, Eagle Merit Badges: Steve Arm- field, Woodwork; Sydney Car ter, Scholarship; Mike Cavo- naugh, Citizenship in the Na tion; David Dickert, Woodwork. Piercing Your Ears Can Be Dangerous Do-it-yourself ear piercing, a practice that has recently become fashionable again, is risky, says Today’s Health, the family maga zine of the American Medical Association. Piercing performed by an unskilled person increases the chances of infection and the de velopment of scar tissue. The physician will carefully measure and mark the ears before piercing, because both ears may not be exactly alike. After piercing the ears with a sterile needle, he will insert temporary earrings or me tallic wires, which are usually worn for three or four weeks until the wounds heal. This is a critical period and your physician’s in structions should be followed care fully to prevent infection or clos ure of the opening. The small, self-piercing ear ring loops which are being pro moted across the country are not considered safe, says Today’s Health. These devices have sharp points which are supposed to pierce the ears within a few days as they are worn. Infections re quiring medical treatment have developed from the use of these self-piercers. Furthermore, it is difficult to be certain that the piercers are evenly placed on the ear lobes. The physician will not pierce ears having any type of rash or A recent article in the Jour nal of the American Medical As sociation reported on two public school nurses who were “aghast at the number of girls with irri tated, swollen and oozing ear lobes. In a class of 80 sopho mores, ten had their ears pierced in the previous three months, and six of them reported inflammation and itching.” Ear piercing is not a very difficult procedure, but it can be risky in the hands of a non- phvsician. John Clifton Norris of New berry and Rebecca Louise Hook of West Columbia, were marri ed on November 25 at Lexing ton. infection or if small cysts arc present in the ear lobe. Persons subject to keloids (scar over growth) or who have this ten dency in their family, or those who are allergic to nickel or other metals should not have their ears pierced. TMAS £ LS FIGHT -o TUBERCULOSIS EMPHYSEMA AIR POLLUTION Space conlribi ted by publisher as a public service IN G00I COMPANIES AT REASONABLE RATES TALK TO US! m “YOUR PRIVATE BANKERS’ 1418 Main Street Ph»»® 276-1422