Trump Vows To Make Payroll Tax Cuts Permanent
President Donald Trump said Saturday that the payroll tax cuts he is implementing through executive order could become permanent, after he denounced Democrats for putting liberals’ pet projects ahead of the needs of Americans.
Trump also signed an executive order that temporarily stops employers from taking the money that funds Social Security and Medicare out of employees’ paychecks.
That was part of a package of actions that included holding student loan interest at zero, giving unemployed workers an extra $400 a week in benefits and working to limit evictions.
“First one is on providing a payroll tax holiday to Americans earning less than $100,000 per year. In a few moments, I will sign a directive, instructing the Treasury Department to allow employers to defer payment of the employee portion of certain payroll taxes,” Trump said during the Saturday news conference at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
He said that the tax cut holiday had originally been planned to take effect on Sept. 1, but will take effect on Aug. 1 instead.
“This will mean bigger paychecks for working families, as we race to produce a vaccine and eradicate the China virus once and for all,” Trump said, according to a White House transcript.
Although the tax break is only temporary for now, that could change.
“If I’m victorious on November 3rd, I plan to forgive these taxes and make permanent cuts to the payroll tax. So I’m going to make them all permanent,” Trump said.
However, he doubts that Democrats will go along — and called out former Vice President Joe Biden in particular for criticism.
“Now, Joe Biden and the Democrats may not want that. They don’t want that because they’re adding $3 trillion in taxes. So they’ll have the option of raising everybody’s taxes and taking this away,” he said.
“But if I win, I may extend and terminate. In other words, I’ll extend it beyond the end of the year and terminate the tax. And so, we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “Biden probably won’t be doing that. You’ll have to ask him. I don’t think he knows what he’s doing.”
Trump was asked at the event why he was cutting the payroll tax.
“It helps people greatly,” Trump said. “It helps our country get back. And anybody that would say anything different, I think, is very foolish. Everybody wanted it. By the way, the Democrats want it. The Republicans want it. They just couldn’t get it — they just couldn’t come to an agreement, but everybody wants it. And the very important thing is the people want it, and the people need it, actually.”
Trump said other tax cuts are in the works.
“We’re further looking at additional tax cuts, including income tax relief, income tax cuts, and capital gains tax cuts,” he said. “So we’re going to be looking at that — capital gains — for the purpose of creating jobs, and income tax is self-explanatory.
“And it’ll be income tax for middle-income and lower-income people, but middle-income people because they pay a lot of income tax and you do have tax inequality. I’m saying that as a Republican, and you do have tax inequality.”
Trump devoted a section of his remarks to trashing the Democrats’ latest proposals in a bill intended to provide relief to Americans affected by the coronavirus.
“So the Democrat bill includes stimulus checks for illegal aliens. They require the mass release of illegal aliens from detention. They also compel the mass release of inmates, including serious felons. How do you like that one? And this is in the bill that we’re talking about? What does this have to do with stimulus, the economy? What does this have to do with the coronavirus? …
“So, think of that: They required the mass release of illegal aliens from detention. What does this have to do with what we’re trying to do? They want to put this — and this is a radical-left policy, so they can go to Portland and try and rip the place apart that they’ve been doing for many years and they’ve been doing for years and years.”
Trump said Democrats only care about their priorities.
“They also compel the mass release of inmates. What does this have to do with what we’re talking about? This is Nancy Pelosi — Crazy Nancy — and Chuck Schumer. They want to compel you to do this stuff, and this has nothing to do with what we’re talking about, and it includes serious felons.
“They want to have these people released on a mass basis, including serious felons. That’s page 1,689; page 1,762. Think of it: 1,762. And that’s nowhere near the end of their bill. They have things in there that nobody has even at the time to look at or read. These people — I don’t — I honestly don’t believe they love our country, you want to know the truth,” Trump said.
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