[Always Right]

If push comes to shove and if there's ever a legitimate, legal, debate about who owns the employer portion of the payroll tax I put my money where every economist and government study says it is...the employee.

And therein lies a huge problem with the whole NRST plan. If employees keep all the taxes, the after tax prices of goods and services will have to go up substaintially. The only way for the price of goods to fall 20-30% is if all employees agree to take a pay cut, and I just don't see how that happens. Having the price of all goods and services increase 10-20% overnight can not be a good thing.

[Principled]

Why do you think that an employee who accepted a position for $62,000 annually would expect to have the employer's share of FICA ($4750) added to $62,000 for a new annual salary?

The employer and employee have agreed on $62,000.

Of course the employer may choose to give him a raise with the $4750 savings, or choose to lower prices with the $4750 savings, or choose to improve ROI with the $4750 savings... or he may spread the $4750 out among some or all of those areas.