Why Trump and GOP want to cut PAYROLL TAXES!

[ashredux]

Payroll Taxes fund Social Security and Medicare. Let me repeat....SOCIAL SECURITY and MEDICARE.

“The current tax rate for social security is 6.2% for the employer and 6.2% for the employee, or 12.4% total. The current rate for Medicare is 1.45% for the employer and 1.45% for the employee, or 2.9% total.”

The GOP have been trying to starve SS and Medicare for years. They see this as a great time, a time of crisis, to do just that. This IS NOT the best way to help workers or stimulate the economy. It is just a way to cut theses very successful and important programs.

Don’t be fooled.

[Champp]

1. Yet another Republican "Screw-ordinary-Americans" plot is afoot

So the Republicans can slobber-down more golf-and-gravy for themselves, while snickering at the homeless and hungry.

[usaf-vet]

9. Exactly and there are more drastic changes ahead if we are not vigilant.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213101407

[OhNo-Really]

17. Oh and look for a shock in 2021 when tax filing

Pete Peterson PIIE hateful oricks

[avlbeerfan]

2. Won't do any good anyway.

If the economy is shut down till August there's not going to be any payroll taxes left. Merica is going to look like a Mad Max beyond thunder dome.

[ashredux]

3. Once cut...they will try to KEEP cut....it's a plan

[ET Awful]

5. This is exactly what I said the first time they

Even suggested payroll tax cuts. Especially when that announcement came less than a week after Trump said benefits should be cut as part of the budget. Don't worry though, the chocolate ration has been increased, Big Brother said so.

[duforsure]

6. trump using this as a way to destroy all social programs

Exactly the opposite of his promise's he wouldn't touch them. Seniors supporting this serial liar trump better start waking up to what he and the GOP are trying to do , and remember this when voting .

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

18. Lets use correct terminology -its the far RW republican party, in cahoots with Trump

Stop fixating on Trump, he is just serving as a distraction while the repubs rob the candy store.

The Repubs have wanted to drown govt in the proverbial bathtub for many decades and replace it with oligarchy they control.

[Baitball Blogger]

7. Trump is going to kill off his supporter base with his bad decisions.

How ironic. They'll make it to the next election, vote for him, and then die.

[usaf-vet]

8. Naomi Klein's. The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

Using a disaster to implement drastic changes.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213101407

[ashredux]

10. Exactly....great book....

[rooboy]

11. Australian govt has just cut payroll tax for 3 months as well...

it's a fairly standard tactic to take some pressure off businesses in situations like this.

they might want to defund social security, but it might not necessarily be for evil purposes right now.

[ashredux]

12. I assure you, the GOP's FOCUS on this is exactly evil...

[hangaleft]

27. You better believe it

This tactic is nothing new. It echoes the Trump and Bush tax cuts, the underpinning being starve the beast, then cry we must cut safety net programs because we don’t have the money to fund them.

May they all rot in hell.

[cstanleytech]

13. Best way to help workers and stimulate the economy would be a combo of

giving everyone and I mean everyone that has a take home back of under 100k a year about 5k to 10k and redirecting at least 1/3 of the DOD budget to infrastructure spending.
Of course for those on medicaid or that receive additional support from the state or assistance programs the money should not be allowed to be counted as income.

[3Hotdogs]

14. --only thing wrong with the o.p.....

Repukes have been trying to eliminate S.S. since 1935.

Google: Wendel Wilkie

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

16. How does that make the OP wrong? If anything that info supports O.P's statement nt.

[3Hotdogs]

20. I was referring to the time frame --- decades. Not years.

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

21. ah - got it. thx! nt

[Kashkakat v.2.0]

15. OP- please lets start by using the correct term "FICA TAX". "Payroll" tax is intentionally vague

Last edited Tue Mar 17, 2020, 11:31 AM - Edit history (1)

term meant to conceal the fact that SS and Medicare are essentially being defunded, as you described.

FICA tax includes 6.2% social security + 1.45% medicare tax so lets use that term.

Or "Social Security and Medicare Tax" - yeah its a mouthful but we need to call things what they are and not consent to intentional disinformation. "Payroll tax" refers to all payroll tax deductions, incl state and fed income tax.

[randr]

19. The parts of American commerce that benefit workers

such as wages and our earned benefits are always the first things under attack when times get tough. We are told we need to "tighten the belt'. The part of the economy that is never questioned are the profits.
Benefits, though earned, are portrayed as entitlements or welfare.
Profits are portrayed as a part of our national security.
It is time to flip this equation.

[hangaleft]

28. Yep, socialized losses and private profits

That’s what unregulated capitalism and the GOP are all about.

And it’s why I was a staunch supporter of Elizabeth Warren’s candidacy.

[wryter2000]

22. I thought it was a mistake when Obama did it

We seemed to get away with it. Now, I'm not so sure. Yes, Obama replaced the money from general funds, but for that period of time SS and Medicare did contribute to the deficit.

In this case, it's doubly stupid because people don't pay payroll taxes if they're not getting a paycheck.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

23. K&R

[WyattKansas]

24. And they are going to demand cuts to Social Security and Medicare to cover the aid package.

These greedy assholes are doing nothing to help anyone, but they are trying to destroy any and all help ever.

[WyLoochka]

25. We need to stop this - fight it

As if our lives depended on it. Millions do!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

26. I figured it wasn't out of the good of their hearts.

Within a week of 9/11 the PATRIOT Act was passed, even though nearly none of the congressmen and senators had read the entire 600+ page document.

My question was: How did they write such a large bill so quickly? Answer: The PATRIOT Act was a cobbled together wish list created by every person who wanted as draconian a society as possible. If it took away Constitutional rights (except the Second Amendment, of course) it was in the bill. If it gave the police, FBI, etc. extraordinary powers, whether or not they were related to combating terrorism, it was in the bill. For example, even without a subpoena the police could force a bookstore to hand over a list of every book you had purchased, and the store was prohibited from telling you it had done so.

So expect Repugs and corporations to use this pandemic as an opportunity to get everything they've ever wanted. Hell, the Repugs tried to stick anti-abortion language into the bill the House just passed!

We need to be vigilant and active to protect our rights.