DUSTIN GAWRLYLOW: CONGRESS GOES ON VACATION - TAXPAYERS TO SUFFER
On September 30th, Congress went on vacation for campaign season. They did so without addressing the pending income tax increases.
Now comes news that the IRS will be forced to increase income tax witholding even if Congress blocks the tax increase when they come back for the Lame Duck Session:
The issue: 2011 tax-withholding tables. Treasury officials usually release the tables, which determine the take-home pay of millions of wage-earners, by mid-November because it takes payroll processors weeks to adjust their systems before Jan. 1.But congressional leaders recently postponed voting on taxes until after the election and lawmakers don't reconvene until Nov. 15. The Senate is scheduled to take up several nontax issues when it returns and is expected to leave for Thanksgiving soon after, possibly pushing a vote on taxes into December."Things get very dicey after the first of December" because of employers' need to know the 2011 rates, said Michael Graetz of Columbia University Law School, a former Treasury official.[...]Treasury officials' most obvious option is the least attractive. If they publish tables based on expiration of the Bush tax cuts, which occurs Jan. 1, millions of low- and middle-income taxpayers who have paid little or no income taxes for a decade would likely see increases in January. Prof. Graetz estimates that higher withholding could take up to $10 billion a month out workers' pockets due to higher tax rates alone. Other benefits also are expiring.(Source: Wall Street Journal)
So there you have it, because Congress wanted to get out of town and start campaigning it is highly likely that in the middle of a recession, the average worker will have more of their pay confiscated from their paycheck.
That must be that Hope and Change stuff they've been talking about.
Dustin Gawrylow, Executive Director
Office Phone: (701) 751-2530
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