Report: Trump Pitched 0% Payroll Tax For Rest of Year to Combat Coronavirus

President Donald Trump proposed eliminating federal payroll taxes altogether for the rest of the year, according to a report from CNBC Tuesday.

The proposal would include eliminating both the employer and employee payroll taxes on Social Security and Medicare, according to the report.

“There was also discussion of making the payroll tax rollback permanent,” CNBC reported.

The Social Security payroll tax is 12.4 percent on the first $137,700 of wages. It is officially split between employees and employers, although most economists consider the entire amount to be a tax on worker earnings. Self-employed workers pay the full amount themselves. The Medicare payroll tax is an additional 2.9 percent levy on all wages, also split between employees and employers, with no cap. Top earners pay another 0.9 percent Medicare surtax.

When CNBC asked about the potential cost of a payroll tax cut, the official reportedly pushed back and asked why there is always a focus on the cost of tax cuts.

Most American workers pay more in payroll taxes than in federal income taxes, so eliminating the payroll tax would be a huge and broad-based boon to workers.

A temporary payroll tax holiday, or even a permanent repeal of payroll taxes, would not endanger either the Social Security or Medicare programs. The government could continue to pay for the programs just as it does today. The reduction in revenue could be made up for by borrowing, which the government can now do at the lowest rates that have ever been available. Alternatively, the government could self-fund the programs the same way the Federal Reserve currently self-funds its bond-purchases in the quantitative easing and overnight repo programs, simply by crediting bank accounts with dollars not linked to a collection from the private sector.

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2020/03/10/report-trump-pitched-0-payroll-tax-for-rest-of-year-to-combat-coronavirus/

Pence Says Trump to Continue Shaking Hands Despite Coronavirus

US Vice President Mike Pence said that he would continue shaking hands and expected President Donald Trump to do the same in defiance of coronavirus fears.

"As the president has said, in our line of work you shake hands when someone wants to shake your hand," Pence told reporters at a White House briefing Tuesday. "I expect the President to do that, I’ll continue to do it."

Instead, he repeated a recommendation to wash hands often and explained that plain soap was just as effective as specialized lotions much sought after.

"All the experts tell me that, while people want to get various sanitizing lotions, washing your hands with hot soap and water 20 seconds is just as good as any lotion you can buy," the Vice President said.

He was appointed to coordinate government efforts to fight the disease that has already infected over 900 Americans and killed 29 more.

Trump told reporters earlier that he was in "extremely good" health, but was open to be checked for the novel coronavirus after reports emerged that a US congressman Matt Gaetz who traveled with him aboard Air Force One had been in touch with an infected person. Gaetz chose to go into a self-imposed quarantine before announcing on Tuesday that his tests were negative.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202003111078532800-pence-says-trump-to-continue-shaking-hands-despite-coronavirus/