Is the employee portion of unemployment insurance contributions deductible for federal income tax purposes?

Please remember we are not experts in federal tax law. However, we have been told by the Internal Revenue Service, that employment security contributions can be deducted on the federal individual income tax return, Form 1040, under Schedule A, line 8 (other taxes).  They have even provided copies of three Revenue Rulings (81-192, 81-193, 81-194) to support this advice.