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September 04, 2020 at 02:35 PM
Attempting to reverse President Donald Trump’s payroll tax deferral order, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., are pressing the Government Accountability Office to determine whether the recent Treasury Department and IRS guidance implementing the order is a “rule” under the Congressional Review Act.
The act allows Congress to undo rules issued by federal agencies via a joint resolution of disapproval in the Senate.
“President Trump’s plan at best gives no help to workers and at worst saddles lower to middle-income Americans with a tax bill the Treasury Department has said will have to be repaid by April next year,” Schumer and Wyden said Wednesday in a letter to GAO.
Under Trump’s presidential executive order issued Aug. 8, employers can defer the 6.2% tax for employees whose taxable wages are less than $4,000 during a bi-weekly pay period — equivalent to roughly $104,000 annually — from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31.
Rep. John Larson, D-Ct., chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, said the same day that he plans to introduce legislation to “overturn” Trump’s payroll tax deferral and work with the Senate to initiate a Congressional Review Act resolution.
“This order is reckless, unworkable, and gives new meaning to the term ‘surprise billing,’” Larson said in a statement. “Early next year Americans will be required by Trump to pay double to make up for this pointless charade! Trump has said he will ‘terminate’ payroll taxes completely if he wins a second term, defunding Social Security. Eliminating these payments is the first step towards a long-time conservative dream to end Social Security as we know it.”
