Payroll tax cut worries Social Security advocates (AP)

Harkin, Dean raise doubts on Social Security tax holiday; AARP silent
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and former Gov. Howard Dean (D-Vt.) are both raising doubts about an aspect of President Barack Obama's tax-cut deal that has not received much criticism: a one-year, two-percentage point cut in employees' share of the Social Security Payroll Tax. By contrast, a group which usually mounts staunch opposition to changes in the Social Security funding mechanism, the AARP, has remained silent about the proposed Payroll tax holiday. "That’s another thing that I rea...

Tax-cut deal clears big hurdle in Senate
In an overwhelming Bipartisan vote, the Senate on Monday cleared a path for the tax-cut deal President Obama struck with congressional Republicans last week, with even former staunch opponents of the Bush-era Tax Cuts voting for their extension. The 83-15 vote ends a Filibuster attempt by Liberal Democrats and gives a boost to the deal ahead of an expected showdown in the House this week, where Democratic leaders have said they will try to alter the $857 billion package. "This proves that both p...

Social Security Advocates Fear Payroll Tax Cut
Like this Story? Share it: (AP) President Barack Obama's plan to cut Payroll taxes for a year would provide big savings for many workers but makes Social Security advocates nervous that it could jeopardize the Retirement program's finances. The plan is part of a package of Tax Cuts and extended Unemployment Benefits that Mr. Obama negotiated with Senate Republican leaders. It would cut workers' share of Social Security taxes by nearly one-third for 2011. Workers making $50,000 in wages would ge...

GOP makes a cash grab
President Obama should be commended for fighting to include additional Tax Cuts for working Americans during negotiations with congressional Republicans over the approaching expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Giving struggling American families extra spending money will provide our economy with a desperately needed boost. Yet, one method by which the Compromise tax bill provides American workers with $120 billion in tax relief reveals an ulterior motive on the part of Republican negotiators. Inste...

Raiding Social Security?
The plan to cut the Payroll Tax -- which finances Social Security -- hasn't drawn the volume of opposition that it might under, say, a Republican President, with AARP blessing it on the grounds that the Treasury has said it'll make the money up from general Tax Revenues. Bernie Sanders, though, railed against the suggestion of replacing the dedicated tax with the general fund as the first step toward destroying Social Security during his long Friday Speech in the Senate, and Josh Gerstein not...

Obama tax deal gets nod from Senate. Will House risk making changes?
Senators vote to end debate on GOP-Obama tax deal, clearing the way for its passage. Attention now shifts to the House, where Liberal Democrats are expected to discuss revisions. President Barack Obama speaks at the White House on Monday, in Washington. The Obama tax deal has been approved by the Senate, but Liberal Democrats in the House have to decide if they want to revise the bill. In a break with gridlock, the Senate voted 83 to 15 Monday to move ahead with a Bipartisan deal ­- f...

Obama-Republican Deal Could Mean Tax Hike For One In Three Workers
WASHINGTON - The tax deal reached between President Obama and congressional Republicans could mean a higher tax bill for roughly one in three workers as a result of the Social Security Tax Cut Republicans pushed as a replacement for the current Making Work Pay Tax Credit. The Making Work Pay credit gives workers up to $400, paid out at 8 percent of income, meaning that anybody making at least $5,000 gets the full amount -- and gets as much as anybody else. Its replacement knocks two percentag...

Social Security advocates fear payroll tax cut
WASHINGTON— President Barack Obama’s plan to cut Payroll taxes for a year would provide big savings for many workers but makes Social Security advocates nervous that it could jeopardize the Retirement program’s finances. The plan is part of a package of Tax Cuts and extended Unemployment Benefits that Obama negotiated with Senate Republican leaders. It would cut workers’ share of Social Security taxes by nearly one-third for 2011. Workers making $50,000 in wages woul...

Romney Opposes Tax Cut Deal
Mitt Romney writes: Death and taxes, it is said, are life’s only two certainties. But in the wake of President Obama’s tax Compromise with congressionalRepublicans, only death retains the status of certainty: The future for taxes has been left up in the air. And uncertainty is not a friend of investment, growth and Job Creation. The deal has several key features. It reduces Payroll taxes, extends Unemployment Benefits and keeps current Tax Rates intact. So far, so good. But intermi...

Romney: Why tax cut is a bad deal
Death and taxes, it is said, are life's only two certainties. But in the wake of President Obama's tax Compromise with congressional Republicans, only death retains the status of certainty: The future for taxes has been left up in the air. And uncertainty is not a friend of investment, growth and job creation. The deal has several key features. It reduces Payroll taxes, extends Unemployment Benefits and keeps current Tax Rates intact. So far, so good. But intermixed with the benefits are conside...

Tax-cut deal clears Senate hurdle in test vote
Reporting from Washington — The Senate overwhelmingly advanced President Obama's $858-billion tax-cut package Monday in a vote that heightened pressure on reluctant House Democrats and enhanced the likelihood of congressional approval for the Compromise. The Senate could send the package to the House by midweek and then turn to remaining legislative priorities, including a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia, a Repeal of the ban on Openly Gay Military personnel and a youth immigra...

Most Americans Support Tax Deal, New Polls Say
As Congress nears a vote on the Tax Cut deal reached between President Obama and Republicans, two new polls out today find Americans broadly supportive of the plan, including majorities of Republicans, Independents and Democrats alike. Nearly 7 in 10 Americans in an ABC News/Washington Post poll said they support the package, which the poll noted would include extending the Bush-era tax cuts and Unemployment Benefits, cutting Social Security Payroll taxes by 2 percentage points and increasing t...

Truth and Tax Cuts
But, back to the Senate Bill which proposes to extend the tax give-aways to the wealthiest. It provides for the beginning of the gutting of Social Security by reducing our contribution to our own retirements by 2%. This will "help us" by eventually making us dependent upon non-existent government welfare instead of our own Social Security benefits. This bill will be "good for The Economy" by putting more money in the hands of the rich who spend nothing to help us and will put us a Trillion or...

Obama applauds Senate test vote on tax cut plan
President Barack Obama is praising a test vote in the Senate supporting the Compromise tax plan he negotiated with Republicans. He says it proves both parties can work together. The president spoke at the White House on Monday after the Senate surpassed the 60-vote threshold it needed to advance the Legislation toward final passage. A vote that would send the proposal to the House is expected Tuesday. Obama says the plan would help create jobs by providing 13 months of jobless benefits to the un...

There Are at Most 13 Deficit Hawks in the Senate
A Deficit hawk is somebody willing to vote against bills that increase the National Debt--that do not contain within themselves provisions to recapture revenue and cut spending that lead to a reduction in the projected national Debt within, say, ten years. There are at most 13 Deficit hawks in today's U.S. Senate: Bipartisan support as tax deal advances in Senate: By James Politi in Washington: The deal struck by the White House and Republican leaders to prevent the expiry of Bush-era Tax Cuts...

Come Saturday Morning: Reasons to Fight the Obama/GOP Poor Tax
Why should we be melting down our phones telling our Senators and Congresscritters “Hell NO!” on this turkey? Let us count the reasons: - The poorer you are, the more of your disposable income you’re prone to spend. The richer you are, the more likely you are to sock it away somewhere. This is why a stimulus that mainly benefits the poor is far better for The Economy as a whole than one that mainly benefits the rich. Yet the Tax Cut framework actually forces poor people...

Tax Cut Deal Wildly Popular
Mon Dec. 13, 2010 10:16 AM PST ABC News and the Washington Post have the first poll out about public reaction to the Obama Tax Cut deal. ABC created a colorful chart of the results, so I'll link to them: Support for the overall package was extremely high: 68% among Democrats and Independents and 75% among Republicans. But the breakdown in the chart above ought to give all of us lefties pause. It's great to see that extending Unemployment Benefits polled higher than any other element of the plan...

Poll: Broad bipartisan backing for tax package
WASHINGTON — About seven in 10 Americans back the tax deal negotiated last week by President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The high Bipartisan support for the package masks more tepid public approval for some of the main components of the deal that came before a key Senate vote Monday afternoon. A slender 11 percent of those polled back all four of the deal's primary tax provisions: an across-the-board extension of Bush-era ta...

Poll: Broad bipartisan backing for tax package
WASHINGTON — About seven in 10 Americans back the tax deal negotiated last week by President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The high Bipartisan support for the package masks more tepid public approval for some of the main components of the deal that came before a key Senate vote Monday afternoon. A slender 11 percent of those polled back all four of the deal's primary tax provisions: an across-the-board extension of Bush-era ta...

Tax cuts or reduce deficit
Tax cuts or the Deficit? Cut taxes or pay down the Deficit? The option we face is whether to cut taxes in an attempt to boost The Economy by boosting spending. This includes Unemployment Benefits because the only way to have consumers is to create demand and we can only have demand if we have people with money to spend and things they need or want to buy. Unemployment benefits would result in an increase in demand which would help to grow the economy. On the other hand we have the deficit hawk...

Medicare and Social Security advocates nervous about tax cut deal
Medicare and Social Security advocates worry that entitlements face restructuring under the new deal brokered between President Obama and the GOP....

With $900 Billion in Tax Cuts, Many Working Americans Will Still See Taxes Rise
According to the Huffington Post, because of the structure of the nearly $900 billion Obama-McConnell tax deal, roughly a third of all workers will actually see their taxes increase next year. How anyone can defend this deal as smart politics for Obama is beyond me. From Ryan Grim: The tax deal reached between President Obama and congressional Republicans could mean a higher tax bill for roughly one in three workers as a result of the Social Security Tax Cut Republicans pushed as a replacement...

Monday Open Thread
hat tip:Blackwaterdog More about that really bad deal the “Negotiator in Chief” brought for the Middle Class and the unemployed (Did you notice that we hear from Mr. Weiner mostly when there’s something to whine about, preferably against the president? It sure does bring him a lot of TV appearances). Anyway, the graph present the entire horror: The breakdown: 53.1% Middle Class AMT (OBAMA) 3.3% Expensing Provision (OBAMA) 4.2% Tax Credits for Working Families (OBAMA) 6.2% Unemployment In

Larry Summers: Tax cut plan will add consumer purchasing
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s top economic adviser says targeted Tax Cuts, more exports and greater spending will help reverse a lack of consumer demand that threatens to constrain The Economy "now and for the next several years." Lawrence Summers, in his swan song Speech as head of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, said the tax cut plan negotiated with the president and Senate Republicans "averts what could have been a serious collapse in purchasing ...

Tax deal clears key Senate hurdle
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The hotly contested tax deal negotiated by President Barack Obama and Republican leaders cleared a key Senate procedural hurdle Monday, with both parties strongly supporting a motion to end debate on the measure. Final Senate approval could come as early as Tuesday on the package that includes extending for two years the Bush-era Tax Cuts set to expire December 31, as well as extending Unemployment Benefits for 13 months, cutting the Payroll Tax by 2 percentage points for a ye...