2004 Democratic Primary

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The self-employed play TWICE the Social Security tax compared with those on W-2's.

Not quite true.  The tax is the same, but half of the Social Security Tax is hidden from the non self-employed since it never appears on theiir paycheck.  Of course, since it is a hidden tax, it makes Social Security seem like a great deal unless you realize that you have paid twice as much as you think you have.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The self-employed play TWICE the Social Security tax compared with those on W-2's.

Not quite true.  The tax is the same, but half of the Social Security Tax is hidden from the non self-employed since it never appears on theiir paycheck.  Of course, since it is a hidden tax, it makes Social Security seem like a great deal unless you realize that you have paid twice as much as you think you have.

What?

If you are on a W-2, then your employer pays half the SSI tax and you pay the other half.

If you are self-employed, then you pay ALL the SSI (FICA) tax.

Therefore, instead of a W-2 worker paying around 7.5% in SSI  and the employer paying the other 7.5% in SSI tax, the self-employed person pays the whole 15%.

You're splitting hairs.  The bottom line is that I, being self-employeed, pay twice the Social Security tax was someone working on a W-2 since their employer pays the other half

A self-employed person making 80k/year is paying 7.5% more in taxes than he would if he was was making 80k/year on a W-2

That's a difference of $6000 in take home pay.

Nope, the employer in this case isn't paying $80K for hiring the person, he's paying $86K of which $6K never shows up on the employee's W-2 so he doesn't realize that there's an extra $6,000 that he would presumably get if the hidden tax wasn't there.  So the comparable self-employed person would have to be making $86k/year not $80k/year.  The self-employed person still comes off worse because his taxes are calculated based on an income of $86K instead of an income of $80K, but not as badly as you implied.