FICA taxes are payroll taxes that are mandatory under the act of Federal Insurance Contributions. These are taxes that support two large social programs of the U.S. Social Security and Medicare. The FICA taxes are paid both by the employees and the employers and the amount paid by the employees is equal to the amount paid by the employers. The taxes on FICA are automatically subtracted out of the employee paycheck and counterbalanced by the employer. The FICA taxes do not apply to progressive tax rates but have fixed rates of taxation, unlike federal income tax. Such contributions are used in assisting in the provision of retirement income, disability benefits, and healthcare cover to eligible members.