Trump wants a payroll tax cut to help with Covid—19

A large portion of the country lives paycheck to paycheck. And many of them don't have insurance. Missing two weeks worth of work will bankrupt a lot of people. If you didn't earn any money for two weeks it doesn't matter what your tax rate is or what tax cuts you get. zero times anything is zero

And so many people can't afford to go to a Dr

That is the absolute worst thing you could do. A payroll tax would remove money from the government coffers - so he can take more money from Social Security then blame Corona on why we SS is insolvent.

R1 he is also purposing federally funded sick leave, so that people can stay home if they or their children are sick, the government will either pay it directly to people or to their employers.

A payroll tax break, is the quickest way to get more money into the hands of workers, in our consumer economy we need people to still buy things.

r3 a payroll tax cut is stupid - it would not put more money in people's paychecks - what little it would not make enough of a difference. The government cannot make up for a shitty minimum wage, and allowing corporations to get away with zero taxes all the while stagnating wages. If we addressed these issues in the past 10 years we would be better prepared for an economic downturn. All Trump is worried about is losing the election.

We aren't one of his ex-wives.

He can't just throw money at the problem and walk away.

So if Trump wasn’t doing this would some complain that he should do it?

R6 NO idiot. Though 99% of what he does is wrong. That isn't OUR fault!

Weird - Bloomberg is blasting Fox News type headlines about the payroll tax cut. They never do that. Meaningless but I guess they are trying to juice the market.

[quote] it would not put more money in people's paychecks

It does help lower income people. A 2% payroll tax reduction would be around $900/yearly for the average worker. It might not seem like much to you but it does to lower age earners.

It is just one of a variety of steps to take, along with public funded sick leave and public health funding for all.

[quote]A large portion of the country lives paycheck to paycheck. And many of them don't have insurance. Missing two weeks worth of work will bankrupt a lot of people.

An epidemic is a bad time for people to finally get around to doing some responsible career planning. A cavalier attitude about life comes back to bite people who haven't planned ahead.

So glad I have about $20,000 available on my credit cards. I'll just declare bankruptcy when it's all over.

I'm usually wrong about things, but I knew over a month ago that this virus would be a disaster for the US. And of course it will be the poor who are hurt the most as usual.

Payroll taxes are Medicare/Social Security and unemployment taxes. A payroll tax change doesn't change income tax rates.

Leave it to the GOP to take advantage of a pandemic to further weaken the funding that provides access to medical insurance, prescriptions, and partial income replacement for workers who'll no doubt be laid off in a recession resulting from Republican incompetence and malfeasance.

The Republican solution for every problem is always more tax cuts (even though they probably pay very little taxes).

R13 Obama signed a payroll tax decrease in 2011. When such a decrease is passed, it lowers what employees pay, but the employers pay the same. It also tends to just affect Social Security not Medicare. If you really want to shore up Social Security, do away with the pay cap, so that the wealthy pay it on their entire earnings not just the first $132,900.

Right - cut funding for Social Security. Classic Republican - stop the funding but do nothing to the programs that it funds. Criminal how badly managed the US economy is,

How do you boost the economy? TAX CUT

How do you avoid a recession? TAX CUT

How do you avoid inflation? TAX CUT

How to you fix Social Security? TAX CUT

How do you help the black community? TAX CUT

How do you fix jobs going overseas? TAX CUT

How do you spark innovation? TAX CUT

How do you encourage higher education? TAX CUT

And our latest lie, how do you stop a pandemic? TAX CUT

The payroll tax proposal isn't a response to the covid-19 pandemic. Trump was floating a payroll tax cut last August.

Republicans have been wanting to damage Social Security for a long time. They're just cynically using a pandemic to kick of their current effort. They know it's popular enough that the only way to attack it is with death by a thousand cuts. This is another way to take a run at it with a sharp knife using "pandemic response" as a cover.

Social Security is in trouble no matter what and has been since it started. The problem stemmed from the fact that the generation getting benefits has to count on the generation below them to pay, because the first generation of beneficiaries didn't pay into the system. Then there is the fact that people continue to live longer than was envisioned.

That is not why Social Security is in trouble R19. It was fully funded in the green when I was growing up. What happened is Congress and the Republicans raided it for millions of dollars to fund their projects. Then when they didn't pay it back, they tried to privatize claiming the stock market is "less risky" and ironically, we see how bad that idea is today. Republicans have been trying to destroy it ever since it started.

Both parties need to pass Medicare for All, so everyone has medical care. Also, they need to increase CDC and NIH budgets, instead they still are gutting them.

Also, Trump/Republicans are still trying to repeal the ACA, aka Obamacare. A case is in the US Supreme Court to wipe out the ACA. Trump can remove the case, but he is pressing it. Trump/Pence/REPUBLICANS are fucking monsters.

VOTE all Elected-Republicans OUT of Office.

Registered Republicans, we need you too. Help us defend each other.

This is a colossally stupid idea. The "virus" economy will be one where people will get laid off . There will be cutbacks. Less travel, the hospitality industry will suffer, other areas too. And the domino effect will set in as ancillary industries a re affected. So it's meaningless. you don't take money out of the economy. You put money into the economy. Paid medical leave. Childcare. Government subsidies to keep bankruptcies at a minimum. Small business is going to take a huge hit. WTF is he thinking? Never mind. He isn't. This is one dumb mother fucker and he doesn't even care about it anyway. And if anyone believes he and his f amily didn't get tested you're delusional. He probably insisted they all get tested. Everyone around him including his staff, the servants, everyone. He is a fucking paranoid maniac. He would have had anyone he comes in contact with regularly tested. Then he can feel comfortable appearing as if he is doing normal activities. He hasn't had a rally lately has he?

That's the way to get Deploables to vote for you: give them a couple hundred dollars.

If Trump had tested negative he'd be tweeting about it non-stop.

I like how their plan is if you are hetero normative and have children stay home, we will try to compensate you for that. If you are single or childless, fuck off and die.

[quote]cut funding for Social Security. Classic Republican

You're embarrassing yourself by your ignorance. As has been pointed out, it was Obama who cut the payroll tax temporarily by 30%, despite Republicans and some Democrats criticizing the effect on social security funding.

[quote]You're embarrassing yourself by your ignorance

Yes, you are embarrassing yourself since you lack the ability to see the history of tax cuts and the Republican party gong back decades. The world existed before the last President you nitwit.

cut in payroll tax will help very little, especially for people who lose their jobs. How about a suspension in student loan payments for a year and a freeze in rent increases?

The fatheaded fool is trying to put the US government into bankruptcy. How long before people on Soc. Security stop getting their checks and Medicare & Medicaid patients stop getting their doctor's bills paid? I hope this stupid payroll tax reduction requires Congressional approval and if not I hope some liberal Federal judge somewhere will stop it before it goes into effect.

I work hard too r30. A tax cut is not going to help me if I have to stay at home for a month without pay.

r30

People like you are the worst.

As if anyone getting a cut in taxes would would for anything with it other than buy a brand new TV. The taxes should be collected and directed towards an intended purpose instead of allowing corporations to not pay even more taxes.

If they don't think Covid-19 is a problem, then why do they need a payroll tax cut?

A brand new tv would help the local store that sells tvs.

More money in the hands of people who work is never a bad thing and it is a stimulus.

Basic econ.

Republicans strategy has always been to cut taxes - and ignore expenses. Then they say “we can’t afford a tax hike” to fund the deficit that they created with the tax cut. They push to cut social programs that we “can’t afford” - only because they cut taxes for the rich and corporations. It’s maddening and cynical. I wonder if democracy can ever achieve responsible government.

R20 It is false that anyone has raided Social Security.

F YOU R30.

How about learning the difference between Medicaid and SS before typing whatever moronic shit pops out of your greedy brain.

$900 over a year won't do shit for people during an immediate crisis. I hate Republicans and greedy morons.

Yes let's gut SS and Medicare, you know the only support for the elderly and disabled in the US -- same demographic that is most vulnerable to this illness.

Deplorable cunts would pick keeping a few measly bucks a week while the disabled and elderly starve! Have fun paying the hospitals back for bills no longer covered by Medicare.

Oh and good luck with those 401k retirements. Biggest swindle republican con game yet. 2008 should've proved to the lower 80% that it wasn't worth giving up pensions and possibly ditching SS.

All they have to do is gain contributions from 130k and up to keep SS/ medicare alive. But as this thread shows you can't even count on people to bother learning the difference from state programs (SSI and Medicaid) 🙄

Over 60% of Americans rely on government to get the min care but r30 is talking about limo rides! What a joke America.

But I thought the tax cut to corporations and billionaires was going to make it all good for the poor folk.

If you reduce payroll taxes (medicare and SS), doesn't that mean you'll get less when you retire?

This has been shot down by the House Democrats.

R42 no, it isn't about how much you put in, but is based on how much you make.

There’s more to this than what is being discussed. Republicans are trying to punk Democrats with this foolish plan. They know it won’t help anyone, but it’s all about optics. They play fake Santa Claus and then scream at Dems in Congress when they oppose it. Most people would come away thinking Democrats played a cynical political game in a crisis, when it’s actually the opposite. So, Democrats will feel forced to go along with it. And at that point the Republicans can facetiously say Democrats cut Social Security/Medicare.

Republicans always play the long game and cheat every step of the way.

Y'all, we better pray every damned day...and night that Nancy Pelosi stays healthy and remains Speaker because she is literally all we have. And the truth is, we really really really need to get the Senate and take control of state legislatures. They're the ones who do the redistricting in 2021. THey make the voting laws and the rules in every state. So no matter what,we have to do the most massive GOTV operation we have ever had.

He's just stupid OP. The markets have lost confidence in HIS ability to manage a health crisis. If he had left Obama's pandemic infrastructure in place and listened to his epidemiologists at the CDC (those who still had their jobs) we would be way ahead of the problem.

I saw this commented on elsewhere today and thought it very poignant. If Trump gives workers a big tax break for 7 months what's he going to do for all the folks living on fixed Social Security incomes, most of whom don't earn enough to pay any income taxes? I would think most of them are on Medicare so I think he should waive their monthly Medicare premiums for the same period he's giving workers an income tax break. That would give them around $150/mo extra.

Anything to help the working people, people who pay the largest percentage of their earnings in taxes should get some break.

This is his way of eliminating Medicare and Social Security, by bankrupting them. He's been talking about cuts to these programs for the last several months.

Even in a pandemic, the Republicans are still up to their old diabolical tricks. I guess you have to credit them for their evilness.

By increasing the debt with the last GOP tax cut, their focus has been on cutting Medicare and SS.

All of a sudden, Trump proposes a payroll tax cut!