Social Security is funded by dedicated payroll taxes. Primarily, this social security tax is known as the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). This tax is imposed on employee wages and the wages of the self-employed. For the employed, the employee and employee split the responsibility for the tax, with employees having their portion withheld from their paycheck. For the self-employed, they are responsible for 100% of the tax. The tax is equal to 6.20% of the gross wage amount, up to but not exceeding the social security wage base ($106,800 for 2009). The same tax is imposed on employers, and the income cutoff rate is adjusted annually for inflation. There is a separate payroll tax on both employees and employers of 1.45% that funds Medicare, which delivers health benefits to employees. For the self-employed, they pay the self-employment tax, which is 15.3% of their net earnings from self-employment. Although they have to pay the entire tax amount themselves, they may deduct that amount when calculating their federal income tax.