The Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax includes two separate taxes. One is the social security tax and the other is the Medicare tax. Different rates of tax apply for each of these.

For 1998 the social security tax rate is 6.2 %, which applies to the first $68,400 of an employee's wages. The Medicare tax rate is 1.45 %, which applies to all of the employee's wages.

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