By Rob Basso on
2/20/2012 1:41 PM
On Friday it was announced that the payroll tax cut will be extended for the remainder of the 2012 year. Instead of the normal 6.2 percent level, Congress has decided to keep the Social Security payroll tax at its lower 4.2 percent rate and to extend unemployment benefits. While this is a short term solution to increasing the cash flow in the economy by providing 160 million working Americans with a slightly larger paycheck -approximately $1000 per year on a $50k salary- the Congressional Budget Office said that the bill would increase federal deficits by $89.3 billion over the next ten years. They will account for the lost revenue for Social Security benefits by pulling from general tax revenue, which will ultimately add to the budget deficit...