General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe the end of payroll tax break is a time bomb
Mark my words. When John Q. Public gets their next paycheck and sees that it is more than a little light, the shit is going to hit the fan. This is going to blindside an uninformed and unsuspecting public. No matter how you slice it, this is a tax increase that is going to reduce paychecks by a noticeable amount. That is roughly 2% of your paycheck on most of us, unless you're name is Richie Rich, "The Donald" or Mitt.
I believe this was a trap set by the Democrats to light the fuse on Republicons. This thing isn't over.
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)they said obama increased their payroll tax
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)I was against it in the first place
seabeyond
(110,159 posts)lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)Liberalynn
(7,549 posts)RKP5637
(67,032 posts)SammyWinstonJack
(44,129 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)And at least 20% of the public will believe it. Maybe as many as 40.
subterranean
(3,427 posts)It has to end sooner or later. I would prefer to either let it expire now or extend it for just one more year. People will quickly adjust to the new amount.
TheKentuckian
(24,949 posts)You were literally begged not to do it. Begged.
Our best hope is that those that seem to have failed to notice the increase will fail to notice the decrease, doubtful, the same corporate media that utterly failed to highlight will be sure to tell folks to check their stubs early and often.
If they do notice then the anti-Social Security stuff will eventually ramp up further, super stupid thing to ever do.
RomneyLies
(3,333 posts)I'd rather see it end and end all ties between Social Security and the General Fund.
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)"save" millions of people a couple of extra bucks they won't miss and then sacrifice liquidity of social security and Medicare.
bhikkhu
(10,708 posts)its possible that the other side went along with it to begin with, knowing the bad feelings that would be associated with ending it...but in any case, so be it.
Its a small deduction that funds Social Security, so I'm fine with it - though I know how personal budgets tend to go; you become accustomed to whatever you have, or need tends to rise to meet supply.
Freddie
(9,232 posts)"Why is my check smaller?" and having to explain it ad infinitum. I'm at a public school and I deal mostly with teachers, a group you'd think would keep up with the news but a surprising amount of them do not. Even worse a fair number of them (including the head of the union??!!) are Republicans -- they bring up the topic, I absolutely never discuss politics at work. Just smile and change the subject.
Panasonic
(2,921 posts)for raising their taxes.
They will know exactly who to direct the blame to - set up your voice mail for that. Tell the supervisor it's the truth.
Freddie
(9,232 posts)I like her a lot but for that one character flaw. Will just tell people the payroll tax holiday from 2 years ago is over and it's back to the usual rate.
The only time I *almost* got onto a political discussion at work was when a teacher came in to add his 20-something kid to his insurance because "I can now because of that Obama crap, right?" Bit my lip.
exboyfil
(17,857 posts)and I said so on the board for just this reason. The other problem is that it is a lost opportunity because we could have raised the cap now and kept the rate down. It would have been an important instructive opportunity that is now lost.
In the world of no or little annual raises, 2% represents a lot of money. I understand why it is happening, and I will adjust but many people are going to have problems.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)to drool over some more.
Autumn
(44,762 posts)It was never supposed to be permanent.
Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)"Stupid" is an appropriate word. Incredibly stupid.
It's also becoming more and more dangerous as this "holiday" continues.
PB
Autumn
(44,762 posts)Both of these have done much damage.
Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)Big mistake.
davidn3600
(6,342 posts)SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)FICA/payroll taxes are defined taxes especially earmarked for SS/Medicare (even though technically, we know there is no "lockbox" ..
The temporary deduction was all we could get , when what we needed was a true stimulus/rollback on real-estate principal/fed tax credit for those at $50..k & under/elimination of ANY cap on upper limit deductions/subjecting income to FICA that are not "paycheck/payroll" income.. stuff like dividends/interest if it exceeds a defined amount....and maybe starting a stock transaction/share fee....stuff like that.
When FICA is "shorted", like it's been for a while now, the general fund is being used to "make up the difference".. This action only gives MORE cover for right wingers who want to call SS/medicare as a "hand-out" program, rather than one funded by payroll taxes we all contribute to (a true entitlement)
For us it amounted to about $20 a week take home.. We can do without it, if it means getting back to normalcy.
reformist2
(9,841 posts)The longer it goes without being properly funded, the more Repugs can claim that it is dependent upon the general fund. Eventually they will be right, if we don't restore the payroll tax.
Lone_Star_Dem
(28,158 posts)Oh wait, they didn't praise anything. There was a lot of complaining that it was too small to be helpful and some people saying they never knew it existed.
QED
(2,730 posts)In real terms, that's my monthly pet food budget.
SheilaT
(23,156 posts)in my paycheck when it happened.
Of course, I'm paid hourly, and my hours are always a little different from paycheck to paycheck. And I also thought it was about the stupidest idea out there, and was just a time bomb waiting to go off.
Kind of lack back when the Bush tax cuts were originally proposed, everyone with half a functioning brain knew that they were a stupid idea, would create huge deficits, and there'd be hell to pay when they expired.