Reporter William March has covered state and national politics since 1994. Email
Reporter Mike Salinero has covered Hillsborough County government for The Tampa Tribune since 2007. Email
Reporter Lindsay Peterson has been a general assignment reporter at the Tampa Tribune since 2005, focusing on higher education since 2009. Email
Posted Dec 7, 2011 by Christian M. Wade
Updated Dec 7, 2011 at 11:54 AM
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn is wading into the fight to extend the Social Security payroll tax cut.
President Barack Obama is pushing Republicans in Congress to extend and expand the payroll tax cut, saying failure to do so would cost middle-class families $1,000 next year and raise taxes on 160 million Americans.
This afternoon, Buckhorn will participate in a conference call with reporters that will include U.S. Small Business Administrator Karen Mills and Durham, North Carolina Mayor Bill Bell. The trio are expected to talk about the impact on working families from not extending the tax cut.
The president argues that extending the payroll tax “holiday” through 2012 is vital to the economy. Republicans in Congress are divided over that, but they strongly disagree with the president’s plan to pay for it with a surtax on millionaries.
Figures provided by the White House suggest that an estimated 9 million Floridians benefited from the 2 percent tax cut, or about $5.6 billion in savings. If the tax cut is expanded to 3.1 percent, as Obama is pushing, it would mean $9.3 billion in tax cuts for 9.1 million Floridians.
The Senate is expected to vote on extending the cut on Thursday.
(Requires free registration.)
ADVERTISEMENT
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online ©2010 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC. A Media General company. Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
Reader Comments