What to do with the Social Security benefits surcharge ? Thoughts and suggestions for a much needed debate

Abstract

The surcharge for social security benefits, established in article 164 of the current Social Security regulation, is an odd concept, hybrid and anachronistic, with an insufficient and confusing legal framework. Criticisms of this concept are practically unanimous. Many are those who defend its modification, even its suppression, but legislators have not taken any action in the face of these criticisms and so, this peculiar surcharge has been with us for over a century. This situation benefits nobody. Workers or their successors have to face a tangle of administrative and judicial proceedings in order to receive the surcharge; if they do in fact receive it at the end of the road, because, since employers are not allowed to have insurance for it, there is a high probability that the Treasury of Social Security will declare the surcharge uncollectible, especially when the sums are often very high. Results are no more satisfactory from the employer's perspective: the surcharge might be disproportionate or mistimed. This paper reflects on some of the most problematic aspects of this legal concept and offers some suggestions in terms of lex data and lex ferenda, as contributions to a debate that must be reopened about an urgent legal reform.