Schumer, Hatch Propose Payroll Tax Break

Schumer, Hatch Propose Payroll Tax Break

Saying that high long-term unemployment is not a liberal problem or a conservative problem but a national problem, two Senators, a Democrat and a Republican, have jointly called for a Social Security tax break for employers, promising it will pay dividends by spurring job hiring sooner rather than later.

In an op-ed published today in The New York Times, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, propose that any private-sector employer that hires a worker who had been unemployed for at least 60 days not have to pay its 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax on that employee for the duration of 2010.

Workers would have to be hired for a minimum of 30 hours per week. And nepotists need not apply: The employer's family members would not be eligible. And job shedders would have to bulk up: if the company had a lower total payroll in 2010 than it had in 2009 it would have to forfeit the benefit.

"The beauty of this proposal goes beyond its simplicity. Unlike a jobs tax credit of a specific dollar amount, this credit is 'front-loaded' in that it provides an incentive for businesses to hire workers earlier in the year — because the tax benefit will be greater. A $60,000 worker hired on Feb. 1 will save a business about $3,400 in taxes, while that same worker hired on May 1 will save it about $2,500," they write.

Because the credit is relative to salary, Schumer and Hatch say their plan is not biased toward earners at either end of the pay scale, though an additional bonus credit on the company's 2011 return could be earned if the worker hired in 2010 stays on the job for at least a year.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/26/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6142512.shtml

in this country are constant tax breaks, why not abolish congress. Then we could have a law that gives automatic tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations every year and the whole country will prosper.

What a republican mentality.

I don't think the Social Security tax should be touched. Does the tax not paid get replaced in the trust fund?

year to 80% but offer dollar for dollar tax credits for every new job up to say $30,000.00 a year per job.