The Misrepresentation of Social Security
When Social Security - more precisely, the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Program -was originally enacted by Congress in 1935, the payroll tax and the benefit program were separated because of doubt as to whether the Constitution allowed Congress to tax some people to benefit others. When this was tested in 1937 in the Supreme Court (Helvering vs. Davis), the government lawyer understood and successfully argued that OASI was not an insurance program requiring a trust fund an