Recent reforms have increased the social security tax burden on farmers and other self-employed workers. Some farmers are able to reduce their social security taxes by shifting their savings from farm to nonfarm investments, adjusting their use of debt, renting farmland to and from others, changing their hog- and cattle-raising practices, and incorporating their farm businesses. Each of these tax reduction methods can result in a misuse or misallocation of resources. Economic efficiency could be improved by changing the social security tax structure to eliminate existing incentives for the use of these tax-saving but inefficient business practices.