Masonry Magazine March 1976 Page. 22
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lief. His plan would impose a five-year moratorium on the payment of estate taxes on businesses valued up to $300,000. After the moratorium ended, the taxes deferred would be due in annual installments over 20 years at 4% interest.
It is too soon to know what the final form of the relief will ultimately take. But there is widespread sentiment on Capitol Hill for enactment of some estate-tax reform plan.
CONGRESS WON'T GO ALONG WITH A RISE IN
CONGRESS WON'T GO ALONG WITH A RISE IN SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES in 1976-the increase from 5.85% to 6.15% on both employers and their employees that President Ford has been pushing for. The tax-rate increase would be imposed in addition to the coming hikes in the amount of wages on which the tax is levied, But Congress is reluctant to vote this kind of tax increase in an election year, even though there is widespread agreement that some increase must be imposed at some point. It is clear that the Social Security trust fund reserves are steadily shrinking as benefits rise more than receipts. Net, the tax-rate question will come up in 1977, when the election is over.
A PLAN TO BOOST UNEMPLOYMENT COMPEN-
A PLAN TO BOOST UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION TAXES FACES the same end. The Ways and Means Committee has already okayed a hike in the Federal tax-from 0.5% to 0.7% retroactive to January 1. Also a hike in the wage base to $8,000 from $7,200 is to take effect in 1977 for Federal and state taxes.
But the committee has decided not to bring the measure to the Floor, which suggests a one-year delay in such action.
A BILL TO REFORM THE WORKMEN'S COMPEN-
A BILL TO REFORM THE WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION SYSTEM is under study, but there is little chance that Congress will complete work on it this year. The measure is strongly backed by organized labor and opposed by business. The pending bill would establish minimum Federal standards for benefits. It gives coverage to all workers, set time limits on compensation duration, plus limits on costs and duration of medical care. State compensation laws would have to conform to the new Federal requirements under the legislation.
The AFL-CIO feels worker compensation has been ignored at all levels, and enactment of Federal standards should get the highest priority. Labor notes that not a single state now measures up to some 19 recommendations proposed by a national commission that studied the problem deeply four years ago.
Industry claims that the states have improved their workmen's compensation laws and that Federal standards are unnecessary.
PROSPECTS ARE FADING FOR MAJOR NEW
PROSPECTS ARE FADING FOR MAJOR NEW ANTITRUST LEGISLATION during 1976. Conservatives in the Senate are using delaying tactics quite successfully. They back additional hearings on the proposal and are ready to filibuster. The legislation would give new authority to the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department by requiring advance notice of planned mergers. Such notice would give the antitrusters time to study the proposed merger and to determine whether they should file a court suit to block the plan. It would also allow a state to file damage suits on behalf of its citizens against firms found guilty of price-fixing and other antitrust violations.