Not Insane
If the economic crisis necessitates a second stimulus—and it probably will—then a payroll-tax holiday deserves a look. But it’s only half a good idea. A whole good idea would be to make a payroll-tax holiday the first step in an orderly transition to scrapping the payroll tax altogether and replacing the lost revenue with a package of levies on things that, unlike jobs, we want less rather than more of—things like pollution, carbon emissions, oil ... Full Story »
Posted by Leo Romero
Adding taxes and tariffs on carbon emissions and pollution do not have to be tied to cuts in social security taxes. There is well financed corporate money that would kill such oil/carbon taxes at the first political opportunity. While fiscally effective as a stimulus, cutting social security taxes is politically too dangerous.