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Repealing the payroll tax as proposed by President Donald Trump without putting in place a new source of funding for Social Security would mean disability payments would end in mid-2021 and payments to the elderly would stop in 2023, according to the program’s chief actuary.

One of the great puzzles of politics is why so many are against President Trump's idea of cutting payroll taxes. The puzzle starts from the fact that this is simply the standard Keynesian thing to do to boost demand in a recession, and as President Richard Nixon said more than a generation ago, "We are all Keynesians now." The vehement reaction that has greeted this executive order to defer certain payroll tax obligations (though Trump wants to forgive them permanently if he wins the election) is over the top. Maybe an executive order isn't quite the way to do it,...

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY  SUBJECT:    Deferring Payroll Tax Obligations in Light of the Ongoing COVID-19 DisasterBy the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:Section 1.  Policy.  The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that originated in the People’s Republic of China has caused significant, sudden, and unexpected disruptions to the American economy.  On March 13, 2020, I determined that the COVID-19 pandemic is of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant an emergency declaration under section 501(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster...

Polls typically show that Americans support a payroll tax cut over the idea of a bailout for cities and states. Every worker would get a 7.5% boost in their paychecks starting as early as next week. This incentivizes work and it puts more money back on Main Street USA. At the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, which I co-founded, we estimate 2.7 million jobs would be created from this tax cut.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday reluctantly dropped his bid to cut Social Security payroll taxes as Republicans stumbled anew in efforts to unite around a $1 trillion COVID-19 rescue package to begin negotiations with Democrats who are seeking far more. Frustrating new delays came as the administration scrambled to avert the cutoff next week of a $600-per-week bonus unemployment benefit that has helped prop up the economy while staving off financial disaster for millions of people thrown out of work since the coronavirus pandemic began. Trump yielded to opposition to the payroll tax cut among his top...

The recovery stage for our economy is finally here, and now the policy priority has to shift to getting people back on the job and getting businesses up and running. The best incentive to get businesses hiring again and get workers off unemployment is to suspend the payroll tax for the rest of the year. So far, Congress' "stimulus" plans have cost more than $2.1 trillion on short-term aid to workers, businesses and states, but they haven't stimulated much of anything other than government dependence. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi favors another $3 trillion spending bill that would actually encourage states...

President Donald Trump proposed eliminating federal payroll taxes altogether for the rest of the year, according to a report from CNBC Tuesday. The proposal would include eliminating both the employer and employee payroll taxes on Social Security and Medicare, according to the report. “There was also discussion of making the payroll tax rollback permanent,” CNBC reported.

Following increased interest in expanding access to paid family and medical leave, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D–Conn.) joined forces with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D­–N.Y.) to promote the Family and Medical Insurance Leave, or FAMILY, Act. If we believe the act's supporters, it would cost close to nothing and provide essential benefits to employees who don't currently receive them. Unfortunately, these claims are bogus. Under the FAMILY Act, the federal government would offer 12 weeks of paid time off to enable workers to care for infants, recover from major illnesses, and care for severely ill relatives. During that time, employees would receive...

With a sturdy job market, healthy consumer balance sheets, and low inflation, the economy is probably not headed toward a recession. But to continue America’s prosperity and guard against a potential economic slowdown caused by the ongoing trade war with China, President Trump should lower one of the most oppressive of all federal taxes — the payroll tax. The payroll tax is imposed on both employees and employers to fund Social Security, Medicare, and other social-insurance programs. Since 1955, the basic payroll tax has nearly quadrupled from 4 percent to 15.3 percent. Today, almost 70 percent of taxpayers pay more...

Top White HouseOpens a New Window. officials are considering a temporary payroll tax cutOpens a New Window. to boost the U.S. economy amid mounting concerns about a possible economic downturn, according to multiple reports on Monday. Internal talks on a payroll tax cut are in their early stages Monday and are one of several potential measures under consideration, the Washington PostOpens a New Window. reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. White House aides have yet to determine whether to push Congress for approval. “As [National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow] said yesterday, more tax cuts for the American...

What do the French digital services tax, the employers' share of payroll taxes, and the corporate income tax all have in common? They are rarely shouldered by those entities and individuals targeted by legislators. In fact, one of the most important things to know about taxes is that the people who actually write the checks to the Internal Revenue Service (or to its French equivalent) are seldom the ones who actually shoulder its burden. In 2004, economist Stephen Entin wrote, "The economic burden of a tax frequently does not rest with the person or business who has the statutory liability...

This should be a lesson to politicians and economists about the nature of gimmicky “stimulus” efforts …. but probably won’t be. In the pressure cooker of the tax fight over the holidays, most people forgot about the payroll-tax holiday — the reduction by two percentage points of FICA withholding for Social Security. Its backers claimed that putting $20 a week in the hands of earners would boost spending and the economy, which turned out to be entirely false. They then claimed that the expiration of this temporary stimulus would tank the economy through reduced spending.And that also turns out to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Americans support Social Security and are willing to pay more to preserve and even improve benefits, according to a new survey released today by the nonpartisan National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI). The new study, Strengthening Social Security: What Do Americans Want?, finds a sharp contrast between what Americans say they want and changes being discussed in Washington, such as cutting benefits by using a “chained” Consumer Price Index to determine Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Large majorities of Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, agree on ways to strengthen Social Security — without cutting benefits. Fully 74%...

As much as I dislike seeing my taxes go up, I can not help but smile a bit at all the liberals who tripped over each other running to the ballot box in November to vote for Obama now scratching their heads wondering why their taxes went up. On Twitter Friday, the subject #WhyIsMyPaycheckLessThisWeek was trending. In truth, I probably should feel like crying that people are so blind to the policies and the results of the policies they support, but I’d rather take a more light-hearted approach at the beginning of the new year. Payroll taxes just took a...

Paycheck looking lighter? How are you adjusting spending after the payroll tax-hike? Contact jason.lange@thomsonreuters.com or @langejason

If Republicans and Democrats are serious about tax reform in 2013, they should throw away the tired old playbook and consider bolder ideas to fundamentally change the flawed tax code. One such idea would be to eliminate the payroll tax. The payroll tax -- 12.4 percent, split between workers and their employers to help finance Social Security -- is one of the worst taxes on the books for several reasons. A basic economic principle is that when the government taxes something, the nation gets less of it. Because the payroll tax makes it more expensive and administratively burdensome for businesses...

The expiration of the payroll tax cut would increase taxes by $115 billion in 2013, Maag writes, yet President Obama and others have been strangely silent – arguing instead about the fate of the 2001-2003 tax cuts. If a tax cut is scheduled to expire, but the focus of the debate is elsewhere, will people notice? Will the average family be surprised when their taxes rise by $1,000 or more next year, even if most of the rest of the 2001-2003 tax cuts are extended for all but the wealthiest Americans? That’s precisely what could happen to a family earning...

Trying to make sense of a senseless administration: Perhaps there are two kinds of people: gullible ones who listen to Barack H. Obama (D, Tupi, Brazil) and think his proposals make sense, and realistic ones who go into shock and outrage watching him misstate statistics on the television. Back in my days in international freight forwarding, I worked for a company that had cooperative agreements with other freight forwarders all over the world. If we needed to arrange an inbound shipment from Europe or Asia, we would tell our partner the details and they’d start it on its way. If...

Relieved congressional bargainers say they've reached agreement on compromise legislation extending payroll tax cuts and benefits for the long-term unemployed through 2012, edging a white-hot political battle a major step closer to finally being resolved. Rep. David Camp, R-Mich., and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the two top negotiators, strode from a conference room minutes after midnight Thursday to say that only technical issues and the drafting of legislative language remained. The bill would assure a continued tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for several million others, delivering top election-year priorities for President Barack Obama. "It's a very...

(Reuters) - Republican leaders in the House of Representatives on Monday dropped their demand for spending reductions to pay for extending a tax cut for 160 million American workers, setting up a likely breakthrough for agreement with Democrats. The about-face cleared the way for the Republican-led House to vote this week to renew for 10 months the tax cut set to expire on February 29. The Democratic-led Senate would likely support the payroll tax extension as laid out by the Republicans, even though they prefer including in the deal provisions on jobless benefits and payments for doctors treating Medicare patients...