The stupid payroll-tax fight isn’t going to benefit anyone
No one is completely in the right in the Washington-wide temper tantrum over extending the payroll-tax holiday. I don’t understand how Senate Republicans — who voted in large numbers for a two-month extension of the holiday — could have been so far out of step with House Republicans who insist on the year-long extension they’ve already passed.
That said, I have a hard time understanding the sudden conventional wisdom that public opinion about the situation will favor:
a) Senate Democrats, who want to enact a two-month extension offset by a tax on middle-class mortgagees and then spend even more time early next year arguing about the very same issue rather than moving on to other issues — rather than enacting a one-year extension offset by the exact same tax on middle-class mortgagees as well as a reduction in welfare and entitlement benefits for wealthy Americans and illegal immigrants, a pay freeze for federal workers, the auctioning of some wireless spectrum, and a few smaller items;
and/or
b) President Obama, who has repeatedly said he wants a full-year extension of the payroll-tax holiday but who, rather than castigating the Senate for passing only a two-month extension, instead is being nakedly partisan in castigating the House for sticking to its year-long extension.
Other than the length of the extension, there is very little substantive difference between the two bills except for the offsets, which is natural given that a year-long extension requires more offsets than a two-month extension. And there is very little in the House’s list of offsets that could be considered widely controversial.
And then there’s the fact that neutral experts say a two-month extension would be a nightmare for smaller firms to implement.
We’re long since past debating the actual merits of extending the tax holiday. As I said at the outset, no one in this kerfuffle comes out looking good. But does it really make sense to believe that the group that passed a short-term, unworkable bill, and the president who supported that about-face, are going to benefit from it, at the expense of the group that passed the longer-term, more practical bill? Obama and the Democrats made that bet during the debt-ceiling debate last summer. Instead, all they did was see their public approval sink alongside that of the Republicans.
I think most Americans will join me in asking that the same, big, fat lump of coal be dumped in all their stockings.
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
234 comments Add your comment
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 21st, 2011
8:09 pm
Republicans raise taxes on 160,000,000 middle class americans!
They are sinking the ship and taking the CAPTAIN DOWN WITH IT!
Shame on them.
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 21st, 2011
8:11 pm
The Republicans have taken this TOO FAR!
John Boehner is a one term speaker thanks to Mitch McConnell.
Fri'chickenesha
December 21st, 2011
8:11 pm
“I don’t understand how Senate Republicans…could have been so far out of step with House Republicans”
Me neither. Well yeah maybe that numbnuts Chambliss, but I don’t know what our other senator was thinking. We don’t need payroll tax cuts to defund the SS trust fund, which is already bankrupt. Americans need to wake up and understand they have to pay for those benefits they hope to receive some day.
Bullet County
December 21st, 2011
8:34 pm
Hypocrite thy name is Speaker of the House;
Isaiah 5:13-15
13Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
14Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
15And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 21st, 2011
9:42 pm
@Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward) December 21st, 2011 9:57 am – There are two million fewer jobs today than when Obozo took office. What he’s doing is failing.
********************************************************************
It’s time to stop all of the b*llsh*t about Obama!.
The Republicans are NO BETTER! The ANGRY WHITE MEN thought they had all the ANSWERS!
How is that working out for ya?
House GOP has manuevered itself into a dead end! John Boenher and the boys thought they could outsmart Obama.
That Harvard diploma has PAID OFF.
Who is the Obozo now?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha:)
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 21st, 2011
9:45 pm
ANGRY WHITE MEN ou tfoxed by the COOL CALM Obama!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 21st, 2011
9:49 pm
Lil Barry Bailout WHERE YOU AT?
Don’t hide now!
Looks like Obozo is giving the Republicans their comeuppance!
You can fool some of the people some of the time but sooner or later you are the FOOL!
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 21st, 2011
9:53 pm
@Kyle Wingfield December 21st, 2011 11:15 am – JDW @ 11:00: I guess I need to expand on the point a bit:
**********************************************
The CONSERVATIVES are doing a lot of esplaining!
No need to EXPAND John Boenher and the boys have already done ENUFF espanding for ya!
Lets call it like it is. REPUBLICANS SC*WED UP!
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 21st, 2011
9:58 pm
@Fri’chickenesha December 21st, 2011 8:11 pm – I don’t know what our other senator was thinking.
***************************************************************
They were hoping you and I WERE NOT THINKING about what IDIOTS they are.
They have bamboozled the american people with their STUPIDITY!
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 21st, 2011
10:00 pm
WHERE ARE ALL OF THE OBAMA HATERS?
YOUR SILENCE IS DEAFENING!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 21st, 2011
10:04 pm
John Boenher FUMBLED THE BALL!
It was a TAX CUT…..wasn’t that what the REPUBLICANS ARE FOR?
DUMMIES DUMMIES DUMMIES
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 21st, 2011
10:15 pm
@Kyle Wingfield – I think most Americans will join me in asking that the same, big, fat lump of coal be dumped in all their stockings.
*******************************************************************
The republicans gave the democrats an early christmas present.
Looks like the republicans got the big, fat lump of coal dumped in their stockings.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 21st, 2011
10:16 pm
GOOD NIGHT REPUBLICANS. SLEEP TIGHT DON’T LET THE BED BUGS BITE!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Taft Punk
December 21st, 2011
11:14 pm
Claudeius !st
December 21st, 2011
5:33 pm
Really ridiculous that neither party mentions a flat tax,
Because it’s a regressive idea that taxes wealthy people less than middle income earners?
Great idea, chief.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
December 22nd, 2011
7:07 am
Republicans have passed the payroll tax for a full year and are keeping the House open so the conferees can hammer out a compromise on the bill. Sadly, they have no one to compromise with since the Democrat Senate skipped town.
Where are the Democrats?
Observer
December 22nd, 2011
8:26 am
I don’t usually get involved in politics but after 4 years of hoping that Obama and the Democrats could fix the economic problems that the last Republican President ( Bush) and the Democratic Senate and Democratic House created (The Great Recession 2007-2011), I have totally changed my mind. I don’t think 4 more years of the same will do any more than provide time for the current Administration to “try this” and “try that? ENOUGH of the American people being experimental mice.
This new payroll tax-FICA Fiasco-Warren Buffet Rule-whatever you want to call it is VERY dangerous and needs to be thought through very thoroughly.
I don’t have a problem with creating a new tax to pass on to the 500 CEOs in the Fortune 500 that currently earn 3 to 5 million dollars a year. However, what I see the Republican House struggling with is just how this will ALSO affect the “entrepreneurial class” (20 million small businesses in America that employ 60 million-600 million workers nationwide. To me, this is the class that made America the most prosperous county in the history of mankind. I shudder to think what the payroll tax will tell them. worked 70-80 hour weeks to get ahead and provide a better life for their families. Work 80 hours a week for five-ten years for your family so you can give your profits to strangers who don’t?
What happens if this new payroll tax goes through and the Federal Government takes another 20% from this class? More if you factor in Health Care and a few other reforms they have already been forced to pay for?
It appears to me that the Democrats in Washington are scrambling to save their jobs while the Republicans are scrambling to save America.
In 2008 this southern Democrat voted to give Obama a chance. In 2012 I’m voting for Newt Gingrich (Republican). I only wish Zell Miller (Democrat) would be his running mate.
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 22nd, 2011
9:40 am
@Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward) December 22nd, 2011 7:07 am – Republicans have passed the payroll tax for a full year and are keeping the House open so the conferees can hammer out a compromise on the bill. Sadly, they have no one to compromise with since the Democrat Senate skipped town.
Where are the Democrats?
********************************************
They are all CELEBRATING the UPCOMING 2012 ELECTIONS with Obama!
Republicans WHERE YOU AT? (Over a cliff?)
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 22nd, 2011
9:46 am
@Observer December 22nd, 2011 8:26 am – In 2008 this southern Democrat voted to give Obama a chance. In 2012 I’m voting for Newt Gingrich (Republican). I only wish Zell Miller (Democrat) would be his running mate.
***********************************************************
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
NEWT IS A JOKE AND HIS CAMPAIGN IS OVER!
Nice try….. try again SOUTHERN DEMOCRAT! Nothing beats a FAILURE BUT A TRY!
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 22nd, 2011
9:52 am
@Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward) December 22nd, 2011 7:07 am
Sorry Lil Biddy, the REPUBLICANS ARE A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT.
Stick a fork in them because THEY ARE DONE!
YOU CAN’T PUT THE SH*T BACK INTO THE HORSE!
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 22nd, 2011
9:54 am
@@Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward) December 22nd, 2011 7:07 am
The Republicans need to know that IF YOU ARE RIDING A HORSE AND IT DIES…………………
GET THE @#@# OFF!
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 22nd, 2011
9:57 am
@@Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward) December 22nd, 2011 7:07 am
Looks like OBOZO is going to have a MERRY MERRY CHIRSTMAS thanks to the ANGRY WHITE MEN!
I hope you do too, LIL BIDDY, IDDY BIDDY!
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 22nd, 2011
10:01 am
@Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward) December 22nd, 2011 7:07 am
ANGRY WHITE MEN do not know when to HOLD THEM, FOLD THEM OR JUST WALK AWAY!
Obozo don’t look to dumb to me this morning! Looks like he got some COMPETITION (Repubs).
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 22nd, 2011
10:07 am
@Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward) December 22nd, 2011 7:07 am
***************************************************************************
The adventures of the REPUBLICANS as THEY ascend, descend and reascend the downspout of a gutter system!
The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain,
and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.
ONE MORE TIME………….
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 22nd, 2011
10:09 am
@Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward) December 22nd, 2011 7:07 am
The Republicans are holding a press conference………eating crow!
I say @#@# THE ANGRY WHITE MEN REPUBLICANS!
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 22nd, 2011
10:11 am
DEMOCRATS are going to WIPE that SMIRK OFF OF ERIC CANTOR’S UGLY MUG!
What Goes Around Comes Around
December 22nd, 2011
10:12 am
HEADLINE:
ANGRY WHITE MEN OUTSMARTED BY COOL CALM BLACK MAN
Shazam
December 22nd, 2011
11:16 am
What Goes Around Comes Around:
I’m glad that I will be the one that cancels out your vote!
A Newt Gingrich, Zell Miller ticket won’t happen but it would create more prosperity in a year than the current adminstration has done in FOUR.
Shazam
December 22nd, 2011
11:20 am
What Goes Around Comes Around: You certainly prove that!
Get off the internet and work dude. Stop depending on others to support your and yours. Ask not what your country can do for you, but instead what you can do for your country.
Shazam
December 22nd, 2011
11:27 am
What Goes Around Comes Around:
Hope the silent majority muzzles you and your anything but silent minorty come 2012! Don’t underestimate the Americans that vote and don’t blog and Twitter!
Shazam
December 22nd, 2011
11:31 am
What Goes Around Comes Around:
Democrats are politicing to save their jobs
Republicans are politicing to save our Country.
Your free ride is over! Get a job, pay your taxes and like it!
Shazam
December 22nd, 2011
11:34 am
What Goes Around Comes Around:
Obviously you are not a small business owner.
Shazam
December 22nd, 2011
11:38 am
What Goes Around Comes Around:
You appear to be the one that is ANGRY here. hahahahahhaahhaahhahaha
gm
December 22nd, 2011
12:07 pm
Shazam
When idiots like you lose your job, house, and can not find work, you will feel most American pain, untll then you are just another selfish, sicko who have no clue of what going on, keep getting brain washed by high school drop out millionaire rush limbaugh.
Fresh Prince of Belfast
December 22nd, 2011
12:49 pm
Shazam
December 22nd, 2011
11:31 am
What Goes Around Comes Around:
Democrats are politicing to save their jobs
Republicans are politicing to save our Country.
Your free ride is over! Get a job, pay your taxes and like it!
Boring