Keep payroll tax cut extension on the table, Maryland Democrat says
By Niraj Chokshi
October 22, 2012 - Government Executive
An extension of the expiring payroll-tax cut should be on the table during
negotiations after the election, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Budget
Committee said on Sunday. The comments suggest a shift from what some believed
to be a settled issue as recently as t hree weeks ago.
"I don't think anyone thinks we should permanently extend the payroll tax
cut, but given the situation we're in I don't think that should be taken off the
table," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said on C-Span's Newsmakers, noting that
he was "speaking personally."
More than 150 million people have benefited from the two percentage point cut
to the payroll tax first enacted in 2010 and extended through 2012 as a form of
economic relief for the middle class. The tax is set to revert back to 6.2
percent on Jan. 1.
Last month, however, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and others said
that should be allowed to happen.
Now that consensus seems to be falling apart. Former White House economic
adviser Larry Summers said earlier this month that "this is not the right moment
to repeal the payroll-tax cut," advocating for an extension as a short-term
economic stimulus. And a White House spokeswoman last week said "we will
continue to evaluate all of the options available to us" after the election.
On Friday, AARP, the huge lobbying organization for seniors, pushed back as
the payroll tax funds Social Security.
"As we continue to recover from difficult economic conditions, we must
remember the critical importance of Social Security for both current and future
generations of Americans," AARP's Barry Rand wrote. "We must ensure that efforts
to promote economic health do not undermine the single most important source of
retirement and disability income for millions of workers and their
families."
Van Hollen addressed those concerns: "This doesn't take one penny out of the
Social Security Trust Fund because those funds are backfilled dollar-for-dollar
out of the general fund."
By Niraj Chokshi
October 22, 2012
http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2012/10/keep-payroll-tax-cut-extension-table-maryland-democrat-says/58926/