It would do nothing for almost half the taxpayers, those whose main federal taxes are payroll taxes that finance Social Security and Medicare.

A larger economy would mean higher real wages for future workers and in turn more payroll taxes to finance Social Security and Medicare.

Health and human service programs account for more than a third of the entire Federal budget, mostly because they finance Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

But they would continue to be subject to the payroll taxes that finance Social Security and Medicare.

Will this brand of preventive medicine lead to great escalation of medical costs that affect all Americans, especially since they finance Medicare for senior citizens' health care?

And it would do nothing for low- and moderate-income families who pay no income taxes but must still pay the payroll taxes that finance Social Security and Medicare.

But so did some Democrats, who saw it as a progressive way to finance Medicare without cutting benefits or raising payroll taxes.

Even as there are relatively fewer workers to pay taxes to finance Social Security and Medicare, these programs will have to provide benefits over longer periods of time as life expectancies rise.

The country's biggest long-term financial crisis will be financing Social Security and Medicare as the population ages and the worker-retiree ratio declines.

But while the tax rates on income fell, steady increases in payroll taxes, mainly to finance Social Security and Medicare, offset taxpayers' gains.