That would dovetail with Nancy's proposal:
Everyone should quit his job and go on permanent unemployment.
Posted on 08/14/2011 7:32:12 PM PDT by Libloather
Obama tries to turn the tables on GOP with call for tax cut extension
By Russell Berman and Bernie Becker
08/14/11 06:00 PM ET
President Obama’s call for an extension of a payroll tax cut could upend the political dynamics in Congress heading into the fall, as Democrats adopt a trademark Republican tactic: warning against a looming tax hike.
With the economic recovery stalled, the Obama administration is pushing aggressively to keep in place the payroll tax holiday that was enacted as part of the bipartisan tax deal Congress passed in December.
Republican leaders have resisted that idea, preferring instead to push for a comprehensive tax overhaul that would simplify the code and permanently lower income and corporate rates.
It would be difficult for such a broad package to be completed this year, however, raising the possibility that Americans could face a higher tax bill next year despite the weak economy.
“We should extend the payroll tax cut as soon as possible, so that workers have more money in their paychecks next year and businesses have more customers next year,” Obama said at the White House on Monday.
The president wants the tax cut extended along with unemployment insurance benefits, and has warned that if Congress fails to do so, “it could mean 1 million fewer jobs and half a percent less growth.”
The administration says the two-percentage point reduction in the payroll tax put in place for 2011 has cut tax bills by about $1,000.
While Republican leaders have not rejected the proposal outright, they have sought to shift attention to their broader tax platform. Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), would not comment on the payroll tax extension, saying Republicans were focused on their own job-creation proposal, which includes tax reform, trade deals and reducing regulations.
The GOP chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Dave Camp (Mich.), has also criticized extending the tax cut.
“I'm not in favor of that. I don't think that's a good idea,” he said during an event sponsored by the Wall Street Journal in June, before the White House ramped up its push. “We need a more overarching approach to our tax policy,” Camp said, calling the payroll tax holiday “piecemeal.”
The Republican budget chief, Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), has dismissed the payroll tax cut as “sugar-high economics.”
“I’m not a Keynesian, so I don’t think sugar-high economics works,” the Wisconsin Republican said at a policy discussion hosted by The Hill in June. “We’ve sort of proven this already, a number of times. Temporary tax rebates don’t work to create economic growth. Permanent tax changes do.”
The likely fate of the payroll tax is unclear, and whether the break is extended depends to a large extent on the scope of the congressional “supercommittee” charged with finding at least $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction by Thanksgiving. If the panel tackles tax reform, the payroll tax could be addressed as part of that effort, or separately.
The administration’s push is part of its long-running effort to balance short-term economic growth with a broader bid to slash the deficit. Ryan’s Budget Committee said the combination of extending the payroll tax holiday and unemployment insurance, along with new spending for infrastructure Obama has proposed, could add $250 billion to the deficit over 10 years.
Yet the payroll tax issue cuts against the traditional partisan divide on taxes. Republicans have hammered Obama and congressional Democrats for opposing a permanent extension of the entire slate of George W. Bush-era tax cuts, arguing that they want to raise taxes on wealthy Americans and small businesses alike.
A Democratic strategist said the GOP position on the payroll tax is “yet another example of Republicans being more concerned with protecting the interests of the wealthy than protecting working families. The GOP would rather seniors and the middle class sacrifice while the wealthy pay even less in taxes.”
One complicating factor for Obama is that many liberals in Congress are not enamored of the administration’s idea, either. They are concerned that reductions in the payroll tax could threaten Social Security by draining its trust fund.
In July, 62 House Democrats signed a letter urging President Obama not to extend the payroll tax holiday.
“We remain gravely concerned that yet another, unacceptable cut to Social Security’s revenue stream appears to be on the table,” wrote the Democrats, who were led by Reps. Lloyd Doggett (Tex.), Ted Deutch (Fla.) and Mark Critz (Pa.). “As alternative measures would have the same net effect on deficits and the economy, there is simply no need to negotiate cuts to Social Security taxes.”
Clint Stretch of Deloitte Tax said the debate over the payroll tax holiday illustrated a greater divide between the Democrats who believe in temporary, stimulative measures and Republicans who do not.
“All this is really just about theological issues,” Stretch, a managing principal at Deloitte, told The Hill. “If you believe government can help solve problems, you’re for this. If what you already believe is that government is the problem, you’re not.”
As Stretch also noted, Republicans view policies like the Bush tax cuts as greater drivers of economic growth — and that the GOP intended for those rates, which were originally on the books for 10 years and were extended late last year, to be permanent.
Stretch said that there were political risks for Republicans to come out in favor of extending the holiday as a stimulus measure, even if Democrats could try to frame that stance as backing a tax hike.
“If you have this position that government’s the problem, and then you start trying to do stimulus through the tax code, you’re exposing your right flank,” Stretch said.
Of course Hussein’s fellating media worshipers will pretend like their little tin god is a tax cutter. :)
All the Republicans have to do is tell the truth, unashamadely, and call Hussein out for being a miserable failure and a liar.
He sucks, and everyone KNOWS he sucks. He tries to pretend he gives a **** about America, and he doesn’t.
Obamacare. Failed stimulus. Higher gas prices. Higher food prices. More dead in Afghanistan. More foreclosures. Lowest consumer confidence since Carter. Iran getting nukes. China lecturing him on spending.
In every single solitary way, Hussein is a joke. Republicans must point this out with extreme frequency and and without the usual “He’s a nice guy but...” caveat. Call him out. He is the WORST.
This little payroll tax bullcrap will go away real quick as an issue.
That would dovetail with Nancy's proposal:
Everyone should quit his job and go on permanent unemployment.
|
Well, that makes two of us who understand it.
Even most FReepers fail to realize that the "payroll tax" is FICA, aka Social Security. Then they, like liberals will wonder why SS is going bankrupt sooner than expected.
“His Drive America under the Bus Tour”
No, no...
It’s the FOODSTAMP EXPRESS Bus Tour!
Payroll taxes, or FICA, is all that is funding next month’s SS checks. But truthfully, the paltry cut from 6.2% to 4.2%, and only the workers bout the cut, the employer still hast to pay the higher rate, is too pitifully small ti make any difference to the economy. This tiny tax cut is what Obama meant when he said the he had tried tax cuts and they didn’t work.
Obama sez “[failure to extend the tax ‘holiday’] could mean 1 million fewer jobs and half a percent less growth.”
Holy cow...the commie bastard says that lower taxes create jobs and growth. OK GOP, up the ante. Take him at his word and propose much bigger tax cuts for event greater job creation and GDP growth. Dare him to refute it.
>Who cares what this nitwit tries to do. His approvals are below 40% and he’s tanking fast.<
I knew this kenyan turd was in real trouble when he did not get a bump from the OBL kill. If that did not push him, nothing will.
It’s now all up to his butt-lickers in the MSM to do his propaganda for him.
Why? He'd be playing on our turf. If Hussein wants to extend the payroll tax cut, agree to it and pass it immediately. Heck, double down and offer to cut it further. I see absolutely no reason this "could upend the political dynamic in Congress".
If Obama was half as intelligent as his enablers say he is, he would cutoff unemployment benefits immediately. Right now, the unemployment rate is being artificially pumped up by people who prefer getting extended unemployment benefits to having to work for their money. Thankfully though, Obama is as dumb as a box of chocolate eclairs and so the unemployment benefits will get extended and the unemployment rate will stay in the 9’s.
What's that, you say? It means you have to include the funding into the bill, to pay for its cost. It would be futile to add a tax to fund a tax cut, something's gotta go.
Let's see now, $1000 for 40 million taxpayers, that's $40B. Now, which department do we want to abolish/defund? Energy? Agriculture? I vote EPA.
Just double down, challenge him to cut even more. Hussein wants to extend this tax cut, say yes and offer to cut it even further.
I can't see how Obama can ever beat us if he's reduced to fighting on our territory.
The payroll tax “cut” was one of the stupidest ways to “stimulate” the economy since the previous year when Obama did the “lower the withholding” trick for his $800 family rebate.
Nobody notices 4 bucks a week in their paycheck, so nobody spends it. They notice later they have a few bucks extra in their checking account, and are happy, but they don’t spend it.
If you want someone to spend $800, you send them a check for $800. Then they think it’s free money, and they spend it.
That ASSHAT has walked into the money. He has discovered more than he wants to know. Buh Bye!
"
When I saw his favorability rating drop below 40%, I knew he would start backpedaling and trying to make nice in order to pull his numbers up again.
His supporters are good for about a week.
Like then California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, he’s all for going Green but the greenie laws are for the little people when Arnold decides he is going to drive a Hummer and commute home by personal jet.
“His Drive America under the Bus Tour”
No, no...
It’s the FOODSTAMP EXPRESS Bus Tour!
No! No! It’s The Audacity of Re-Election Bus Tour!
Unemployment insurance payments are not enough money to sustain the formerly middle-class professionals and tradesman who are being consumed in the bonfires of layoffs and business closings.
At best you are going to see about one forth of your former income for about 26 weeks. That might just be enough to make your apartment rent or mortgage payment, but probably not. Do you eat food? Do you think you can get to job interviews without a car?
By 99 weeks (if you got the extension), your savings are gone and your address is about to change for the worse.
Working at almost any skilled job pays better than collecting UI checks. Don't kid yourself otherwise.
Here's the catch though - there are 400 applicants for that skilled job opening. Maybe you'll be the luck one today!
So in the mean time you say you are willing to "take anything" and apply for that fast-food job that pays 7.25/per hour? Guess what! The crew leader is (insert different ethnic background here) and only hires co-ethnics. You are not in the club.
Send out the (expletive deleted) UI checks! It's cheaper and more effective than pouring hundred billion dollar bailouts into the hands of the banksters.
And if you want to put people back to work?
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