The Social Security (FICA) Wage Base (In Thousands of Dollars)

Multiple Choice

The Social Security (FICA) wage base (in thousands of dollars) from 1996 to 2001 is given in the accompanying table: Find an equation of the least-squares line for these data. (Let x = 1 represent the year 1996.) Please round the coefficients in your equation to three decimal places. Use the result to estimate the FICA wage base in the year 2005.

A) y = 3.587x + 58.368; $94,238
B) y = 3.574x + 58.440; $94,405
C) y = 3.574x + 58.440; $94,180
D) y = 3.587x + 58.368; $94,132