Even the lowest information voters should have realized by now that their paychecks have shrunk by 2% … since the Feds didn’t renew the 2% payroll tax holiday.
The big question for the economy as 2013 gets underway is how America will react to their smaller paychecks.
According to the Social Security Administration, the number of (former) workers collecting disability benefits hit a record 8,827,795 in December.
I’ll stipulate that the vast majority of the 8.8 million are honest folks who really can’t work because they’re disabled … and, I realize that an aging work force has a higher propensity for disablement.
But c’mon, man … this is starting to smell pretty fishy..
The Feds are dishing out over $135 billion annually in disability payments.
How much of the $135 billion do you imagine is going to the folks that Dateline keeps exposing as frauds?
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Here are some more interesting Social Security factoids …
In the fiscal cliff talks, I think that the Feds – both Obama & Congress – are demonstrating “no brain” thinking – working ineffectively on the wrong stuff.
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Specifically, in the fiscal cliff talks, practically all of the focus has been on jacking up the marginal tax rates for millionaires and billionaires making more than $250,000.
Payroll taxes – for Social Security & Medicare – have been largely pushed off-stage.
That’s because both Dems & the GOP seem to agree that the 2% payroll “tax holiday” should be allowed to expire.
That may be true, but I think the payroll tax structure may be the key to hitting the seemingly conflicting objectives of raising tax revenues and creating jobs.
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Let’s lay out some basics:
What happens to whom if the current payroll tax holiday expires?
Lots of articles have been written about how the the bottom 50% pays no Federal income taxes and the very top tiers pay vast shares.
The usual cry from the Dems: what about payroll taxes?
Then, they holler: go back to the rates in effect during the glorious Clinton years.
Well, the Independent Review pulled together Federal tax burdens back to 1980 … including payroll taxes
The key findings:
Since 1980, the bottom 40%’s share of total Federal taxes has almost halved … from about 9% to to 5%.
The top 10%’s share has grown about 15% … from 40% to almost 55%.
Most of the top 10%’s share increase has landed where?
You guessed it … among the evil 1-percenters.
Geez.
If we could only get the wealthy to pay their fair share, we’d be out of this fiscal mess, right?
The Homa Files 