Payroll Tax

Initially the Democrats wanted a one-year extension of the payroll tax hike. Now that it's offered to them, they won't accept it. ("The GOP tax hike," Dec. 23.) Now that the two-month extension has passed, what does that do for the economy and the taxpayers? We'd have this same scenerio played out again in February. This could potentially go on for the whole year over and over and over. How demeaning for The Sun to mention the Wall Street Journal as "our ultraconservative brethren" in their editorial?

Small businesses would be protected from the type of fraud allegedly committed by Harford County payroll firm AccuPay Inc. under legislation being proposed by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski. The Maryland Democrat plans to introduce a bill that would require payroll service providers to register with the Internal Revenue Service and be either bonded or certified by the tax agency. It also would set federal penalties for payroll firms that fail to send clients' tax payments to the government.

The only thing both sides in Congress seem to agree on is to forego collecting the payroll tax for the Social Security Retirement System ("What it may mean to raise eligibility age for Medicare," Dec. 10). This "entitlement" program exists because we fund it during our working years, and for many people it is their only retirement savings. If we fail to pay Social Security payroll taxes we cannot expect money to be available when we retire. Dan Griffin, Perry Hall Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Harford County Del. Mary-Dulany James said Tuesday she received a pledge from the state comptroller he will not to penalize businesses who have become victims of alleged financial fraud by a the Bel Air payroll company Accu-Pay. Accu-Pay is being investigated for collecting payroll taxes but allegedly not directing those taxes to the state and federal governments, according to prior news reports by The Aegis and The Baltimore Sun . After hearing from a large number of her constituents concerned that back taxes unpaid by the payroll company would be pursued for collection by the State of Maryland, James said in a news release she has been working with numerous state officials, including Comptroller Peter Franchot, to potential victims are protected from further financial burden.

Nearly half - 48 percent - of American workers haven't noticed that more money is being taken out of their paychecks for the payroll tax that funds Social Security, according to a survey released today by Bankrate.com. In the previous two years, workers' paid 4.2 percent of wages (on income of up to $113,700 this year) instead of 6.2 percent. But during last year's tax negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff, the payroll tax holiday wasn't extended. Many predicted at the time that low-income workers would be the most hurt by the payroll tax going up 2 percentage points.

The so-called Congressional supercommittee was never about finances; it was always about political maneuvering, just as the "payroll tax cut" isn't about fixing the economy but might be more properly be called the "kick-the-can-down-the-road" cut. First, Social Security taxes are not included in the national budget. So, reducing such revenues will have no effect on current-year deficits. What the "payroll tax cut" will do is reduce the amount of Social Security revenue that can be borrowed by Congress to spend.

Federal employees will be required to contribute $15 billion toward the cost of extending federal unemployment insurance under a tentative agreement struck in Congress that would also maintain the 2010 payroll tax break, federal worker union officials said Wednesday. The deal, which lawmakers have cautioned is still tentative, would require employees to contribute an additional eight tenths of one percent to their retirement funds. The money generated from that provision would cover roughly half of the $30 billion cost of extending long-term unemployment benefits.

The latest news in Washington on the payroll tax cut is that there's not much news. To the surprise of no one, negotiators in Congress are exactly where they were last December when the tax break was extended two months - gridlocked. So once again, the clock is ticking. Congress has three weeks to decide whether to extend the tax holiday for some period of time (preferably the remainder of the year but at least enough time for businesses to adjust their withholding calculations)

President Barack Obama will announce details of a new $33 billion payroll tax credit for businesses during a visit to Baltimore this morning, White House officials said Thursday. The proposal, which Obama mentioned in his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, is an updated version of an initiative that was first considered as a part of the 2009 stimulus package and later abandoned. A senior White House official, briefing reporters on condition he not be identified by name because Obama had not yet made the details public, said the time was ripe for the idea.

WASHINGTON -- Many U.S. employers could face a payroll tax of 12 percent or more to finance health care reform under a plan now being considered by the White House, particularly if President Clinton adopts the most generous of three possible benefits packages his advisers have designed, sources said yesterday.Until now, administration officials in private conversations have focused on 7 percent as the probable payroll levy on most employers and about 1.5 percent on workers, with special allowances to ease the burden on small businesses and low-wage earners.

Nearly half - 48 percent - of American workers haven't noticed that more money is being taken out of their paychecks for the payroll tax that funds Social Security, according to a survey released today by Bankrate.com. In the previous two years, workers' paid 4.2 percent of wages (on income of up to $113,700 this year) instead of 6.2 percent. But during last year's tax negotiations to avoid the fiscal cliff, the payroll tax holiday wasn't extended. Many predicted at the time that low-income workers would be the most hurt by the payroll tax going up 2 percentage points.

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski urged the Internal Revenue Service to quickly investigate the potential fraud at a Harford County payroll company and called for the agency to protect "honest small businesses" that might have had their payroll tax payments misdirected or delayed. Police in Bel Air, where the company is based, are investigating whether AccuPay Inc. stole years of tax payments rather than sending them to tax collectors on behalf of clients. The company, with an estimated 500 to 600 clients, shut down last week after a Bel Air veterinary hospital filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that the company "repeatedly and regularly" failed to pay or made only partial payments of federal and state withholding and unemployment taxes over the past five years.

Chicken Little is alive and well writing editorials for The Sun ("The GOP sequester," Feb. 22). The world will apparently come to an end when the sequester, better known as budget cuts, goes into effect on March 1. These budget cuts are apparently far more serious than the $1 trillion dollar annual deficits that we are piling on our children and grandchildren. The Sun's solution, other than to continue its never-ending campaign against Republicans, is to reduce spending where you can and tighten the belt gradually - ease the pain.

American workers got an unpleasant surprise this month when they received their first paychecks of 2013. The typical full-time worker, who earns about $40,145 a year, found that his two-week paycheck was $30 lighter than his last check of 2012. The lost money is the result of tax increases contained in the Jan. 1 agreement between Congress and the White House to avoid the "fiscal cliff," a package of spending cuts and tax increases intended to reduce the federal budget deficit. Though $30 doesn't sound like much, it's unwelcome for households that continue to struggle in this long-stagnant economy.

Chris Hayes, an editor at large of The Nation and host of the talk show bearing his name on MSNBC, was raised in a working-class neighborhood but attended some of the most exclusive schools on the planet. "I grew up in the Bronx," says the affable, 33-year-old anchor of "Up With Chris Hayes. " "My mother was the daughter of an Italian deli owner. But I'm also hugely a product of the meritocracy, and for that reason I have my own affection for it. " Both experiences provided fodder for his much-discussed first book, "Twilight of the Elites: America after Meritocracy.

Mental health rehabilitation and addiction treatment center Baltimore Behavioral Health Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection because it owes more than $5.5 million to creditors and estimates its assets are less than $500,000, according to federal court filings. The center will continue to operate during the Chapter 11 restructuring, said CEO Terry T. Brown. "There's a need for us to be here," Brown said of the nonprofit company's West Pratt Street facility, on the northern edge of the Pigtown neighborhood of Southwest Baltimore.

TORONTO -- People with knowledge of last week's collective bargaining negotiations confirmed last night that the NHL owners have offered the players a deal that doesn't include a payroll tax.It is the tax, which the players call a salary cap in disguise, that has been the deal breaker thus far in keeping the players locked out and postponing the start of the season for 81 days, as of yesterday.The league also has offered the NHL Players Association a deal that includes a salary tax, but the player representatives from the 26 teams emphatically rejected that approach last night when they met at a lakefront hotel.

The only thing both sides in Congress seem to agree on is to forego collecting the payroll tax for the Social Security Retirement System ("What it may mean to raise eligibility age for Medicare," Dec. 10). This "entitlement" program exists because we fund it during our working years, and for many people it is their only retirement savings. If we fail to pay Social Security payroll taxes we cannot expect money to be available when we retire. Dan Griffin, Perry Hall Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Every kid knows that falling off a cliff is never good, but what about a "fiscal cliff" - how would that feel? Americans may indeed find out, if Congress is unable to pass a budget plan prior to Jan. 1. So, what's at stake if such an event occurs? Plenty. First, some background. Members of both political parties have spent beyond the nation's means for many years. This economic fact of life is a bit more embarrassing for Republicans, since most GOPers at least try to talk a good game of fiscal sense.