Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Obama’s wrong: This ‘cliff’ deal still raises taxes on the middle class

The Washington Post reports:
This afternoon, President Obama spoke while surrounded by an ad hoc group of “middle-class Americans” who he promised would be protected from tax hikes by the 11th-hour “fiscal cliff” proposal. That’s not what’s going to happen.
Even the liberal Washington Post notices:
But Obama is wrong: Taxes will rise on the middle class even if this deal passes, because it doesn’t include an extension of the payroll tax holiday. That means that the paychecks for more than 160 million Americans will be 2 percent smaller starting in January, as the payroll tax will jump from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent. And a huge number of those hit will be middle class or working poor (Two-thirds of those in the bottom 20 percent would be affected by a payroll tax hike.).
Just a reminder: the next time you look at your paycheck.