Fact or Fiction?

Do Members of Congress Pay Social Security Taxes

FACT: YES! Members of Congress began to pay into Social Security in 1983, as part of a government-wide pension overhaul.

The 1983 amendments to the Social Security Act (P.L. 98-21) required all Members of Congress to participate in Social Security as of January 1, 1984, regardless of when they first entered Congress. The laws governing payment of Social Security taxes and eligibility for Social Security benefits apply to Members of Congress in the same way they apply to any other covered worker. Prior to 1984, neither federal civil service workers nor Members of Congress paid taxes to Social Security, nor were they eligible for Social Security benefits.

WWII Memorial Forgets God?

FICTION: There is a heavily circulated chain e-mail claiming that the WWII memorial, recently opened in Washington, D.C., omits the phrase “So help us God” from the words President Roosevelt used during his announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor. This e-mail, which entails an anonymous woman’s trip to the WWII memorial, also encourages the readers to write their Members of Congress and “ask them to have this oversight fixed . . . and to put the words ‘So help us God’ back into this speech.” This charge is simply untrue.

The plaque on the WWII memorial includes only an excerpt of that famous speech made by FDR - namely, the opening line and the full second sentence of the 8th paragraph which together reads:

"PEARL HARBOR
DECEMBER 7, 1941, A DATE
WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY...
NO MATTER HOW LONG IT
MAY TAKE US TO OVERCOME
THIS PREMEDITATED INVASION,
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, IN
THEIR RIGHTEOUS MIGHT,
WILL WIN THROUGH
TO ABSOLUTE VICTORY.”

"So help us God," is neither omitted from the excerpt nor the final line of this speech as the chain e-mail claims. The line that the anonymous woman is recalling is actually part of the last sentence of the 11th paragraph - the next-to-last paragraph of the speech; a line which reads "With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.” This sentence is not part of the excerpt quoted on the WWII memorial plaque.

Is the United States Postal Service issuing a new Christmas stamp for Muslims?

FICTION: The email that’s being circulated about this stamp is one of many urban legends. Since this concern creeps up from time to time, we’ve gathered information that we hope will be helpful.¹

The stamp described in the email exists, although it is neither new, nor a Christmas stamp: It is a five-year-old USPS Holiday Series stamp commemorating two Islamic holidays that have no connection to Christmas. The EID postage stamp was introduced by the United States Postal Service (at the then-current 34-cent rate) as part of their Holiday Celebrations Series on September 1, 2001, just ten days before the September 11 terrorist attacks. The EID stamp is often mischaracterized as a “Christmas stamp” even though it has nothing to do with Christmas other than that it is part of a series of U.S. postage stamps commemorating several diverse celebrations (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Thanksgiving) that generally occur around the November-December “holiday season.” (The USPS Holiday Series also commemorates celebrations that occur at other times of the year).

As the USPS describes the EID stamp:

The Eid stamp commemorates the two most important festivals – or eids – in the Islamic calendar: Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha. On these days, Muslims wish each other “Eid mubarak,” the phrase featured in Islamic calligraphy on the stamp. “Eid mubarak” translates literally as “blessed festival,” and can be paraphrased as “May your religious holiday be blessed.” This phrase can be applied to both Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

The word “eid” is roughly equivalent to the English word “celebration” or “festival.” The three-day Eid Al-Fitr celebrates the end of the month-long fasting of Ramadan; the three-day Eid Al-Adha commemorates the willingness of the prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael in response to God’s command, and it marks the end of Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. (In 2006, Eid Al-Fitr began October 23, and Eid Al-Adha on December 29.) The EID stamp is an ordinary first-class postage stamp; all proceeds from its sale go to the USPS, not to any Muslim-related groups or organizations. (Therefore, boycotting the EID stamp would have no financial impact on anyone.) The EID stamp was reissued by the USPS in October 2002 at the newer 37-cent first class rate and again in the 39-cent denomination in October 2006. President Bush has extended official greetings, issued messages, and participated in commemorations of both Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha (even after the September 11 attacks) and the White House web site promotes the EID stamps as well. Furthermore, Hallmark produces various holiday cards celebrating Eid al-Fitr.

¹ Most of this information was found at snopes.com.

The federal income tax code passes the tax burden from wealthy to lower income taxpayers, thereby increasing the income inequality gap in America.

FICTION: A release issued by the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) on October 15, 2007 explains that:

The share of total federal income taxes paid by the top one percent of tax filers increased to 39.38 percent in 2005, while the tax share of the top 5 percent climbed to 59.67 percent. The income tax share of the top half rose to 96.93 percent, according to recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data. The tax shares are the highest on record for these groups in comparable IRS data going back to 1986.

The share of adjusted gross income generated by the top one percent has also increased. As noted in media reports, this share was 21.20 percent in 2005, relative to a level of 20.81 percent reached during the height of the stock market bubble in 2000 (when the income tax share of the top one percent was 37.42 percent). Congressman Jim Saxton, ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee, made the following remarks on the IRS data:

“Some have noted that the 2005 income share for the top one percent is the highest on record. However, it is not significantly different from the level reached in 2000. After the stock market and technology bubbles burst in 2000, the income share of the top one percent declined through 2002, rising with the stock market recovery in more recent years. In addition, although the income share of the top one percent is similar in 2000 and 2005, the income tax share was about two percentage points higher in 2005.

“In examining recent trends in the income share of the top one percent, what is most striking is its sharp rise during the 1990s. For example, between 1992 and 2000, the top one percent’s share of income jumped from 14.23 percent to 20.81 percent, an increase of nearly 7 percentage points, before slipping in 2001 and 2002. These data show that the most significant increases in this income share occurred in the 1990s, not in more recent years,” Saxton concluded.