The word "fica" is an interesting example of English pronunciation rules. Although it is spelled with only four letters, its pronunciation can be tricky. The phonetic transcription for "fica" is /fɪkə/. The "i" in "fica" is pronounced as a short "i" sound, like in "sit". The "c" is pronounced as a hard "k" sound, like in "cat". Finally, the "a" is pronounced with a schwa sound, like in the second syllable of "sofa". So remember, when spelling this word out loud, it's "f"-"i"-"k"-"uh".
FICA is an acronym that stands for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act. It is a United States federal law that requires employees and employers to contribute a portion of their wages or salaries to fund two social welfare programs: Social Security and Medicare. FICA taxes are automatically deducted from employees' paychecks and are matched by the employer.
The Social Security program provides income support to retired workers, disabled individuals, and their dependents or survivors. It is essentially a social insurance program that provides benefits based on contributions made throughout one's working career. On the other hand, Medicare is a federal health insurance program primarily catering to individuals aged 65 and above, as well as certain disabled individuals.
FICA taxes are calculated based on a fixed percentage of an employee's income, with different rates for Social Security and Medicare. As of 2021, the Social Security tax rate is set at 6.2% for employees and employers, while the Medicare tax rate is 1.45% for employees and employers. However, there is a wage cap on Social Security contributions, meaning that individuals earning above a certain threshold are only required to contribute up to that limit.
Overall, FICA plays a crucial role in funding these vital government programs, ensuring income and healthcare support for retired and disabled individuals and their families.
* The statistics data for these misspellings percentages are collected from over 15,411,110 spell check sessions on www.spellchecker.net from Jan 2010 - Jun 2012.
The word "fica" has two different etymologies depending on the context:
1. As a noun: In this context, "fica" comes from the Latin word "ficus" which means "fig tree". The term "fica" refers to the fig tree or its fruit.
2. As a verb: In this context, "fica" is a conjugation of the Portuguese verb "ficar", which means "to stay" or "to remain". It is derived from the Latin verb "ficare", which has a similar meaning. In Portuguese, "fica" is commonly used as the imperative form of "ficar", instructing someone to "stay" or "remain" in a certain place or situation.