The ongoing class war started by Republicans on behalf of the richest 1% of Americans against the rest of the country has been the focus of the Occupy movement since its inception. Throughout the past two months, Republicans have ramped up their assault on the 99% by failing to consider raising taxes on the wealthy to help reduce the deficit and pay for President Obama’s crucial job creation plans. The failure of the super committee tasked with reducing the nation’s deficit lies solely with Republicans who refused to even consider increasing taxes on the wealthy as a balanced approach to deficit reduction, and instead, they proposed decreasing the wealthy’s tax liability while cutting social safety net funding as part of their perpetual slash and burn agenda to preserve the status quo that is increasing the number of Americans living at or barely above the poverty level.
Two of the casualties of the super committee’s failure was extending unemployment benefits for out-of- work Americans and the payroll tax cut that affects every American earning less than $106,800 annually. Congress has an opportunity to extend and increase the payroll tax cut before the Christmas break and Republicans have another opportunity to prove to the American people that their loyalty is not exclusive to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. If recent history is any indication, a good bet is that recalcitrant Republicans will refuse to show due consideration to the plight of Americans struggling in this sluggish economy to protect the wealthy.
In order to procure the current one-year payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance extension, President Obama agreed to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy for two years during negotiations last December. The payroll tax cut reduced employee contributions to Social Security from 6.2% down to 4.2% and the result was immediate relief for Americans who most certainly used the extra cash for such luxuries as food, shelter, and daily necessities. This week, a new bill sponsored by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) will expand and extend the payroll tax cut that provides middle and lower income workers with extra cash in every paycheck that will stimulate the economy and help cash-strapped Americans survive; if they have jobs.
Casey’s bill extends the payroll tax cut for another year as well as increase the cut by more than 50%. The new payroll tax cut is an increase from the current 4.2% down to 3.1%; the regular rate is 6.2% and is a substantial savings for working Americans. The new bill also gives relief to employers who currently pay the regular matching payroll tax of 6.2%, and the new figure cuts their contribution in half at 3.1% for all of 2012 on the first $5 million of payroll. The $5 million limitation affects 98% of all employers and avoids giving giant corporations who are sitting on record amounts of cash more benefits than they already receive. It is difficult to imagine any Republican opposing a tax cut that benefits 98% of all wage earners until one considers the issue of funding the tax cuts.
Read more:
http://www.politicususa.com/en/gop-payroll-tax
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