I call bullshit because the employer's share of the tax never decreased. The 2 percent reduction was only on the employee and not the employer.
Originally Posted by The2Dogs
A couple of years ago, a few congresspersons actually
did suggest adding a cut to the employers' side, claiming that it would incentivize new hiring because it would reduce the cost of adding new employees. However, most serious policy analysts thought it would be an ineffective measure and was just another gimmicky, politically motivated idea -- especially since it was also intended to be temporary. Most entrepreneurs and managers primarily consider the
long-term costs of adding new employees, not just the immediate ones. Otherwise they would probably just hire temps. Besides, it wouldn't have been a very effective vote-buying scheme!
You can't have it both ways...as much as you would like to.
Originally Posted by Whirlaway
Have
what both ways? That statement makes no sense at all. And did you not find it ironic that the piece copied and pasted in the OP actually argues
in favor of the resumption of the pre-2011 payroll tax deduction rates? (An opinion with which I agree, as I noted in the earlier linked thread.) Amazing.
I also think the original cut, which was announced at the outset to be a
temporary measure, was bad
politics as well as bad policy. It shouldn't have been hard to figure out that when the reduced rate was ended, millions of workers were going to be a little unhappy when their net paychecks shrank. Many people have short memories and won't make the connection with an equivalent increase they began enjoying a couple of years ago. As is now obvious, the shifts open up possibilities for Obama's opponents to serve up disingenuous demagoguery designed to appeal to people who don't follow the policy debate.
I'm not a liberal, and certainly am not a fan of Obama's economic agenda. He has done many things for which he can reasonably be lambasted, as is obviously also the case with congressional Republicans. But this isn't one of them. If you opposed the resumption of the pre-2011 deduction rates, fine. There's no doubt that a lot of people agree with you. Just don't incorrectly assign blame.