liberalization and automatic adjustment of earnings test

liberalization and automatic adjustment of earnings test Sec. 105. (a) (1) Paragraphs (1) and (4)(B) of section 203(f) of the Social Security Act are each amended by striking out “$140” and inserting in lieu thereof “$175 or the exempt amount as determined under paragraph (8)”. (2) Paragraph (1) (A) of section 203(h) of such Act is amended by striking out “$140” and inserting in lieu thereof “$175 or the exempt amount as determined under subsection (f)(8)”. (3) Paragraph (3) of section 203(f) of such Act is amended to read as follows: “(3) For purposes of paragraph (1) and subsection (h), an individual’s excess earnings for a taxable year shall be. 50 per centum of his earnings for such year in excess of the product of $175 or the exempt amount as determined under paragraph (8), multiplied by the number of months in such year. The excess earnings as derived under the preceding sentence, if not a multiple of $1, shall be reduced to the next lower multiple of $1.” (b) Section 203(f) of such Act is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new paragraph: 86 Stat. 1342 “(8) (A) Whenever the Secretary pursuant to section 215 (i) increases benefits effective with the first month of the calendar year following a cost-of-living computation quarter, he shall also determine and publish in the Federal Register on or before November 1 of the calendar year in which such quarter occurs (along with the publication of such benefit increase as required by section 215 (i) (2) (D)) a new exempt amount which shall be effective (unless such new exempt amount is prevented from becoming effective by subparagraph (C) of this paragraph) with respect to any individual’s taxable year which ends with the close of or after the calendar year with the first month of which such benefit increase is effective (or, in the case of an individual who dies during such calendar year, with respect, to such individual’s taxable year which ends, upon his death, during such year. “(B) The exempt amount for each month of a particular taxable year shall be whichever of the following is the larger— “(i) the exempt amount which was in effect with respect to months in the taxable year in which the determination under subparagraph (A) was made, or “(ii) the product of the exempt amount described in clause (i) and the ratio of (I) the average of the taxable wages of all employees as reported to the Secretary for the first calendar quarter of the calendar year in which the determination under subparagraph (A) was made to (II) the average of the taxable wages of all employees as reported to the Secretary for the first calendar quarter of 1973, or, if later, the first calendar quarter of the most recent calendar year in which an increase in the contribution and benefit base, was enacted or a determination resulting in such an increase was made under section 230(a), with such product, if not a multiple of $10, being rounded to the next higher multiple of $10 where such product is a multiple of $5 but not of $10 and to the nearest multiple of $10 in any other case. Whenever the Secretary determines that the exempt amount is to be increased in any year under this paragraph, he shall notify the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance no later than August 15 of such year of the estimated amount of such increase, indicating the new exempt amount, the actuarial estimates of the effect of the increase, and the actuarial assumptions and methodology used in preparing such estimates. “(C) Notwithstanding the determination of a new exempt amount by the Secretary under subparagraph (A) (and notwithstanding any publication thereof under such subparagraph or any notification thereof under the last sentence of subparagraph (B)), such new exempt amount shall not take effect pursuant thereto if during the calendar year in which such determination is made a law increasing the exempt amount or providing a general benefit increase under this title (as defined in section 215(i) (3)) is enacted.” (c) The amendments made by this section shall apply with respect to taxable years ending after December 1972.