I have to admit...I am struggling. The current political climate is causing some soul-searching....

[JDPriestly]

23. Yes. But theoretically all costs of employment are actually the employee's wages.

Same for Worker's Comp. Insurance. For the employer that is a cost associated with the pay for the individual worker. It is not a tax on the employer's income or profits, but rather a tax related to employing the worker.

So I agree with you, but I see a complexity beyond saying that the employer pays that tax. When the employer pays a tax resulting from the employment of the employee, in my perspective that is also a charge to the employee.

Theoretically, if the employer did not have to pay that tax, the employee could negotiate a higher wage. Further, if the employer did not pay the tax, then the employer's profits -- taxable profits -- would be presumably higher (minus the loss for the income the employee generates).

I'm not an economist, but having worked in the management of a non-profit, I see all costs associated with hiring and paying an employee, all costs that result from hiring and paying an employee as costs attributed to the employment and the employee. If you fire the employee and don't hire someone to replace him, you don't pay the unemployment insurance.