Robert Reich proposes a payroll tax holiday on the first $20k of income LINK

[Blackhatjack]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/tax-jujitsu-why-democrats_b_693046.html

Tax Jujitsu: Why Democrats Should Propose a "People's Tax Cut"

"So instead of playing defense, Democrats should go on the attack. Accuse Republicans of being shills for the rich.

And don't stop there. Do tax jujitsu. In addition to ending the Bush tax cut for the rich, put forward another proposal for growing the economy that cuts taxes on lower-income Americans.

Democrats should propose eliminating payroll taxes on the first $20,000 of income, and making up the revenue loss by applying payroll taxes to incomes above $250,000.

This would give the economy an immediate boost by adding to the paychecks of just about every working American. 80 percent of Americans pay more in payroll taxes than they do in income taxes. And because lower-income people would get most of the benefit, it's likely to be spent."

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[oxymoron]

1. K&R!

[dkf]

2. Will this lower future benefits for the lower income and raise benefits for the higher income?

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

3. that was good but when his talking head opponent said 1/2 of americans pay no tax

he should have replied, because they are living in near poverty you dumb fuck !

[PSPS]

4. "Pay no tax" was a lie. Even at zero income tax, there's always payroll tax.

[kelly1mm]

8. Actually the earned income tax credit was/is primarily set up to

reimburse the payroll taxes low income workers pay. Therefore, it is possible to have a net zero (or even negative) total tax obligation. The "pay no tax" guy was spouting a talking point but like most issues, it is not as simple as he or you describe.

[PSPS]

10. True, but it applies to far, far less than "half" of taxpayers.

[sandnsea]

5. That's $103 a month, at most

Funny how that was peanuts and chump change when it was added to unemployment benefits.

I support it because it's one way working people will get some of their FICA back.

[bluestateguy]

6. Great idea

nt

[DLnyc]

7. Excellent idea!

Unfortunately, it will never go anywhere precisely because it is a good idea.

[piratefish08]

9. how does this benefit the top 1%? it'll never pass.

:sarcasm:

[Lance_Boyle]

11. An excellent idea.

I would not make it a "holiday," though. I would make it permanent. And probably on the first $40K. And then raise the cap by AT LEAST $40K to help compensate for the reduction.

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. In even a half-normal country, no-one, however far to the right, would dare

clamour for the offensively gratuitous and mistimed tax-cuts for the richest, which Bush enacted, to be extended (apparently, they're due to expire soon); still less, pretend, at this time of all times, that their discontinuance would be an economically-harmful action by the Democrats.

It's not possible to exaggerate the weird mixture of malice and insanity of the right-wing in the US today. Could anything surprise? It could have been completely apocryphal story, but few could have doubted that the neocons were capable of having corpses in Iraq looted of their vital organs for sale in the US medical market.

[AnArmyVeteran]

13. I wonder if democrats have the courage to pass it before the election?

Or will they run from this opportunity too?