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Trump's Payroll-Tax Deferral Creates Predicament for Congress

Rogue Valley

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Trump's Payroll-Tax Deferral Creates Predicament for Congress

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11/27/20
WASHINGTON—President Trump’s decision to defer payroll taxes until the end of the year is leaving challenges for lawmakers to manage after he leaves office in January, and they haven’t figured out what—if anything—to do. Members of Congress in both parties weren’t keen on the August executive action, which let employers stop collecting the 6.2% Social Security payroll tax from many workers in the final four months of 2020. The move was meant as a form of relief during the economic slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but few employers stopped withholding. That created a predicament for Congress. Employees whose payroll taxes temporarily shrank will face double withholding starting in January, which could pinch households that haven’t planned for it. Doing nothing could cause harm for those workers, but helping only them could be unfair to others whose taxes continued to be withheld. “No one will be happy no matter how that gets resolved,” said Mark Mazur, a former Obama administration official who now directs the Tax Policy Center. “It’s kind of like a no-win thing.” Mr. Trump couldn’t get Congress to cut payroll taxes, so he used the administration’s ability to defer tax deadlines after a disaster to delay payments of the employees’ portion of Social Security taxes. He promised that if he won re-election, he would push to turn that delay into a real tax cut.

“President Trump was waving his arm and saying don’t worry about it. You do worry about it,” said Rep. Richard Neal (D., Mass.), chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. Official figures aren’t available yet, but payroll processor Paychex Inc. said take-up has been very low. The one big exception—which could create pressure for Congress to act—is the federal workforce, including many members of the military. Mr. Trump required executive-branch employees to participate. Rep. Kevin Brady (R., Texas) introduced a bill to forgive all deferred taxes, which is backed by 28 other House Republicans. Allowing forgiveness at this point, after so many employers didn’t participate, would give a windfall to federal employees and nothing to millions of other workers. Lawmakers could just do nothing, which could create burdens for federal workers and military service members who face a drop in take-home pay in January and didn’t save the extra money they are getting in 2020. Mr. Neal said lawmakers would probably wait to address the issue until after a new Treasury secretary is confirmed. President-elect Joe Biden has selected former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen for that position. Mr. Biden’s transition team declined to comment.


Another Trump mess that Biden and Congress will have to clean up. This Executive Order was the initial shot in the Trump/GOP Holy Grail of defunding Social Security and Medicare.
 
Trump's Payroll-Tax Deferral Creates Predicament for Congress

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Another Trump mess that Biden and Congress will have to clean up. This Executive Order was the initial shot in the Trump/GOP Holy Grail of defunding Social Security and Medicare.
Yes. Trump masterfully put the Congressional Elites in an inconvenient predicament. Their only way out of it is to either finally pay attention to the SS/Medicare boondoggle or get their voters so mad at them the pukes won't be able to stay in office.

Sucks to be them.
 
destroying our social programs shouldn't be the choice of one ignorant person via EO.
 
Yes. Trump masterfully put the Congressional Elites in an inconvenient predicament. Their only way out of it is to either finally pay attention to the SS/Medicare boondoggle or get their voters so mad at them the pukes won't be able to stay in office.

Sucks to be them.
and it sucks for the citizens of the US who will have to pay the tax to the IRS if Congress does not forgive the tax.

It sucks for the SS/Medicare program that Trump pledged to protect and improve.

It sucks for the increasing debt the US will occur if Congress forgives the tax.

Yep, Trump masterfully screwed things up.
 
and it sucks for the citizens of the US who will have to pay the tax to the IRS if Congress does not forgive the tax.

It sucks for the SS/Medicare program that Trump pledged to protect and improve.

It sucks for the increasing debt the US will occur if Congress forgives the tax.

Yep, Trump masterfully screwed things up.
Congress has the power to set things right. Will they do it?

We'll see.

One thing is for sure...they can't ignore the issue and kick the can down the road like they always want to do.
 
Congress has the power to set things right. Will they do it?

We'll see.

yep. We will see. if Congress does not "set thing right" Then Trump should be blamed for the mess.
 
yep. We will see. if Congress does not "set thing right" Then Trump should be blamed for the mess.
Right. Blame Trump for Congress not doing their job.

That makes perfect sense...to a Trump hater.
 
Right. Blame Trump for Congress not doing their job.

That makes perfect sense...to a Trump hater.
Funny.
Trump created the problem not Congress.
 
Right. Blame Trump for Congress not doing their job.

That makes perfect sense...to a Trump hater.

While this may be true you have a problem in that you've destroyed your own credibility with your absolute devotion to Trump and unwillingness to accept that he is responsible for anything bad that's happened in the last 4 years.
Trump is President and the guy at the top gets all the plaudits but that also means he takes all the blame.

Trump's legacy isn't going to be fantastic and the financial mess he's left you with is going to take a lot of work to rectify.
 
Congress has the power to set things right. Will they do it?

We'll see.

One thing is for sure...they can't ignore the issue and kick the can down the road like they always want to do.
So many Trump decisions that Congress will now have to set right. Will they be able to do it? Given the hyper partisan nature of Congress and their inability to do much of anything, perhaps not. Who will get the blame for the fallout? Why, Joe Biden, of course.
 
but it is the choice of many ignorant people. The solution is to quit electing ignorant people to high office.
Well, good, hurray, hurrah, this should get us those Georgian Senators!
 
but it is the choice of many ignorant people. The solution is to quit electing ignorant people to high office.

i don't disagree. however, there is an extensive propaganda network dedicated to that goal, and the other one is inept at countering it. even as a right winger, i wouldn't have predicted this shitshow.
 
The problem has existed long before Trump came along.
Congress may deal with the problem he created by letting the tax withholding begin again and have the taxpayers repay the amount that should have been deducted from the past paychecks.

Tell us. What action has Trump proposed or taken to keep SS and Medicare funded? He campaigned to keep SS/Medicare funded. All I have seen is the temporary stoppage of the payroll tax. How did that action secure SS/Medicare?

Trump says a lot of things. Trump promises many things. Most of the what he says or promises are what he believes his base wants to hear. He is a terrible leader.
 
Congress may deal with the problem he created by letting the tax withholding begin again and have the taxpayers repay the amount that should have been deducted from the past paychecks.

Yes. They might. And there will be consequences.

Tell us. What action has Trump proposed or taken to keep SS and Medicare funded? He campaigned to keep SS/Medicare funded. All I have seen is the temporary stoppage of the payroll tax. How did that action secure SS/Medicare?

Trump says a lot of things. Trump promises many things. Most of the what he says or promises are what he believes his base wants to hear. He is a terrible leader.

Why does this matter? According to you, he won't be President.
 
Yes. They might. And there will be consequences.



Why does this matter? According to you, he won't be President.


And the consequences of continuing the tax deferral affects SS and Medicare how?
 
Yes. They might. And there will be consequences.



Why does this matter? According to you, he won't be President.
Trump is already seeing the consequences. He is about to be fired.

To Trump followers it does not matter that he left a mess for someone else to correct. I see Trump for what he is. You see Trump from what Trump told you he is.
 
And the consequences of continuing the tax deferral affects SS and Medicare how?
There will be more pressure on them to actually try to fix those programs.
 
Trump is already seeing the consequences. He is about to be fired.

You hope. And if he is, then it'll be up to Biden to deal with the problem...whether he wants to or not. (And, of course, Biden would prefer to NOT have to deal with the problem.)

To Trump followers it does not matter that he left a mess for someone else to correct. I see Trump for what he is. You see Trump from what Trump told you he is.

Trump didn't leave a mess for someone else to correct. He put Congress in a position where they'll have to deal with a problem that should have been dealt with decades ago...or suffer consequences.

(Now that I think about it, yeah...Congress certainly thinks it's a mess that they don't want to deal with, just like they've been avoiding dealing with the issue for a long time. Too bad.)
 
i don't disagree. however, there is an extensive propaganda network dedicated to that goal, and the other one is inept at countering it. even as a right winger, i wouldn't have predicted this shitshow.
There was a point where cognitive linguist George Lakoff tried to teach democrats/liberals how to counter "framing". Which largely involved clearing how to avoid the language and imagery used to construct the frames. This allows actual communication to take place, as using any of the things used to construct the frame actually reinforces that frame.

He gave up because the democrats just wanted him to teach them how to construct their own frames. So they could fight instead of disarming.

Because it's about power and status. It always is.
 
There was a point where cognitive linguist George Lakoff tried to teach democrats/liberals how to counter "framing". Which largely involved clearing how to avoid the language and imagery used to construct the frames. This allows actual communication to take place, as using any of the things used to construct the frame actually reinforces that frame.

He gave up because the democrats just wanted him to teach them how to construct their own frames. So they could fight instead of disarming.

Because it's about power and status. It always is.

i don't think that disarming language is likely to result in productive discussion at this point. we have one side that has constructed their own reality and another side that can't figure out how to counter it other than, "well, that's a total lie." if we can't meet on the same plane of reality, then i don't know what we can do.
 
i don't think that disarming language is likely to result in productive discussion at this point. we have one side that has constructed their own reality and another side that can't figure out how to counter it other than, "well, that's a total lie." if we can't meet on the same plane of reality, then i don't know what we can do.
There are methods of getting through though. Look up Lakoff. It's not real easy, but it can be done.

I am personally hopping that overuse will cause them to hit the "gag point" where they become aware of what's being done to them. That would be fun to watch.
 
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