Fashion Artist 1941-1970

Dorothy begin working for the F. & R Lazarus & Company in 1941 as a fashion artist with the advertizing department. After her death and the death of the executor of her estate (brother Russell Leach), this webmaster located an envelope with Dorothy's yearly salary statements that showed earnings and withheld taxes in 1943, and for every year from 1946 to 1969. By 1969 with 28 years of experience at Lazarus and previous experience at Dunn-Tafts (1933-1941), Dorothy was the head fashion artist working full time (12 months a year). Her gross income was $10,575.00. With all the withheld taxes, her net income was only $7,875.45. Her actual income was likely less than that after filing tax returns. For example, in 1946, her gross income was $2075.56. Her net take home before filing was $1,868.46. Lazarus had withheld $206.10 for Federal Taxes. When Dorothy filed her taxes, she owed the government an additional $66.33, so her actual net salary after taxes that year was: $1802.13.

 

Year	Gross Income	Federal Tax Withheld	F.I.C.A Withheld*	City Tax Withheld**	Net Take Home Pay Before Filing Tax Return
1943	2075.56	207.10			1868.46
1946	3913.32	593.94			3319.38
1947	4404.54	689.20		26.02	3689.32
1948	4895.31	681.20		23.41	4190.70
1949	5174.80	676.20		26.02	4472.58
1950	5527.17	742.60		27.73	4756.84
1951	5478.69	782.00	54.00	27.53	4615.16
1952	5511.53	857.80	54.00	27.72	4572.01
1953	6036.46	958.90	54.00	30.21	4993.35
1954	5850.03	871.30	72	31.09	4875.64
1955	6900.64	1024.70	84	34.57	5757.37
1956	7004.34	1059.20	84.00	44.31	5816.83
1957	7096.42	1059.60	94.50	68.93	5873.79
1958	7638.40	1148.89	94.50	76.38	6318.63
1959	7706.60	1155.15	120.00	77.07	6354.38
1960	7865.87	1176.24	144.00	78.65	6466.98
1961	7843.89	1409.43	144.00	78.43	6212.03
1962	9035.24	1657.27	150.00	90.35	7137.62
1963	9311.06	1747.99	174.00	93.11	7295.96
1964	9941.00	1471.46	174.00	***	8295.54
1965	9610.00	1345.40	174.00	96.10	7994.50
1966	10245.00	1759.80	277.20	102.45	8105.55
1967	10705.00	2027.25	290.40	107.05	8280.30
1968	10600.00	2098.45	343.20	106.00	8052.35
1969	10575.00	2219.40	374.40	105.75	7875.45

* City Tax was not deducted from Dorothy's salary until 1947.

**F.I.C.A. (The Federal Insurance Contributions Act) consists of Social Security and Medicare Taxes. Dorothy's pay stub reflects that there was no FICA tax prior to 1951.

*** Dorothy's W-2 showed no payment for City Tax was deducted from Dorothy's 1964 pay.

Contact person for this website is Susan Snyder: susanleachsnyder@gmail.com