Payroll Tax…What Every Sly Woman Needs to Know!

Congress passed a two-month extension of the payroll tax earlier today. This is a huge victory for President Obama over the Republicans who control the House. The bill was passed by voice vote leaving many tea partiers panties in a bunch. Congress now has just two months to work out their differences, namely, differences over how to pay for the payroll tax cut extension

 What does this mean for the Sly Woman???

Passage of the bill will:

* Prevent a 2 percent increase in the payroll tax

* Extend unemployment benefits – preventing almost 2 million unemployed people from losing jobless benefits averaging $300 a week

* Prevent doctors from taking a cut in Medicare payments

* Boost the paycheck of the average Sly Woman making a $50,000 salary by about $20 a week—and we all need any dollar we can get in this sour economy!

What did right-wingers get for bending before the holidays? Added language to benefit small businesses and a provision requiring President Obama to make a quick decision on whether or not to approve the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline—something environmentalist strongly oppose.  Had Congress failed to act today, some 160 million Americans would have seen the payroll tax, which funds Social Security, increase from 4.2 percent to 6.2 percent. That increase would have meant a typical family making $50,000 annually would have lost about $40 from each paycheck. Now who can really afford that?

Now that Congress has passed the short-term extension, President Obama will sign it into law today and will leave Washington to join his family in Hawaii for the Christmas holiday. Thanks Congress for the gift of giving…when our country needs every dollar that comes our way.

Crystal Ilise, Sly Contributor…@Crystalilise crystal@slymagazine.com