Do we really need any more proof our elected officials remain woefully out of touch with the rest of us regular folk?
Well, just in case you had your doubts, consider the resurgent debate over the payroll tax cut. The suits in Congress have until Feb. 29 to figure out whether to extend the politically popular tax cut – and hopefully how to pay for it – or simply let it expire.
It was bad enough Congress waited until right before the new year way back in 2010 to pass the tax cut, which – as most of you probably already know – slashed the amount most wage earners paid into Social Security to 4.2 percent (from 6.2 percent). The last-minute passage forced employers to scramble to comply with the law in two weeks, over the holidays.
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After a couple of other complications along the way, we find ourselves facing another set of deadlines while Congress remains either blissfully unaware or willfully indifferent. Most payroll departments – or outside third-party vendors – will need to start processing the next month's payroll in about at week, at the earliest. And without an extension in place before then, payroll will have to be processed under the assumption the tax will revert to 6.2 percent.
(Of course there's more at stake than the roughly 160 million workers who'll be shortchanged if the tax holiday ends, with both jobless benefits and Medicare reimbursements on the table, as well.)
As if payroll's job wasn't riddled with enough regulatory pitfalls, and endless oversight, this latest debacle is insulting at the very least. Never mind that in all likelihood this extension will pass. We're looking at a presidential election year where the incumbent is running against a "do nothing" Congress, whose own approval ratings hover in the teens, at best.
So this deal will get done, that's not really the issue. It's the callous disregard for the rest of us that continues to rankle the electorate while the politicians wander around their gilded halls, wondering why we're so angry
Either way, it might be best to get in front of this and make sure employees are kept informed on where Congress and your benefits department stand. Few things are sacred as that paycheck, and its not worth the ill will if you got flat-footed by irate employees.
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